Game of life
by Kamen Rider Dimension
Summary: The Super High School Level Game Developer enters the scene, woefully unprepared and unaware of what will await him. As forces work behind the scene, what can a simple student do but try his best to keep smiles on the people's faces? "You know, it's kids like you that end up dying first!"
1. 1 - ready for school?

**Okay, joining in with the Super High School Level OC making (SHSL is the term i shall be using, even though Ultimate would be easier), I went with a game developer, merely because I want to tinker with the idea of a talent that could only be born through the use of other talents, which makes it easier for him to have a reason to interact with other people. Well, i suppose I should just let you see what's going on. Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: What do the cards say of my fate Diend, Shirou Emiya?_

 _Shirou: They say you're going to have an interesting time in Hope's Peak Kazuki Hiraku!_

 _Kazuki: A magic user that can summon multiple heroes... That sounds like it could be a game in itself!_

 _Shirou: I'm nothing special, really..._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

"So, we can have a fleet come in from the side so that they can be easily shot down while disguising the arrival from behind… got to make sure the audio is loud enough to be hard to distinguish, yet still mixes in well with the current battle. I don't think they have any hitboxes yet either… Probably a bad thing, but if they're the spectral squadron, they really don't need them if only certain things can hurt them. The player is meant to run away from the first encounter anyway, so giving them hitboxes at this stage isn't really necessary…"

Kazuki Hiraku was a basic boy. With dark green hair, amber eyes and a lax smile constantly plastered to his face, there were very few that could find fault with the boy beyond his quiet demeanour. Tugging at the navy Crombie, a gift from an ecstatic uncle living in England, Kazuki wandered down the street, eyes glued to the screen as his left hand flew across the keys of the jet black laptop.

"It won't be good enough to actually run any of the stuff, but at least I can write all that I'm sure about and then send it to the computer I had sent ahead." The boy muttered to himself, pulling his jeans back up as they fell. Moving had been a hassle, especially at the age he was, 17, but when you were going to the school he had been invited to, the hassle was well worth the resulting qualification, especially in a country where the name of the schools you went to meant more than the actual course taken.

Hope's peak academy, home to some of the greatest student's in their art. Upon strict invitation only, they recruited the best of the best of the best in order to fill their halls, every single student residing within their dorms, a bonafide genius prodigy in their field. By simply being in the school, you could consider your future secured as the title given to you would mean that you beat all others in what you did.

"But Super High School Level Game developer… that's kind of awkward to say." Kazuki said under his breath as his eyes flickered from line to line of code, a small scowl coming up as he rapidly tapped the backspace, an A making way for an S. It most likely would be better if he simply deleted only the single wrong letter, but mistakes like that didn't allow for rational thinking; they had to be gone and corrected. Thanks to the comforting glow of the screen and the speed of his fingers, there would be nought that would stop his walk to the academy on his first day; there were connections to be made, ideas to 'borrow' and work to be done.

Well, technically, work didn't ned to be done per say, you merely had to pass a single block of exams from what he told, but there were also rumours of how it was only truly one exam, which didn't exactly fill the boy with confidence; how were you expected to be certain that someone could succeed in life if they only had one exam to go off of?

'But that's why they only take the ultimates in. Then they don't need to check if someone would be successful; they've already guaranteed that they will be.' The boy mused, taking a needed deep breath after a bout of entirely focused work. Fortunately, people had been wise enough to get out of his way as he made it to Hope's peak, only a passing thought spared for the odd boy and his computer.

"So now I need to get the models completed if I'm going to actually make them spectres; I can't just have the same men running without hitboxes all of a sudden. I'm pretty sure Hikari said she was free to do an extra lines, so that's not going to be a problem… It's going to be Akamine as the problem. Man can never find the time even when he does nothing." Kazuki muttered, a few minutes required before he noticed that despite his continued leg movements, he wasn't actually going anywhere. With a confused noise, his raised eyes landed on the girl colliding face first with him, the game girl held within dainty hands backed up without escape to his laptop so that it could be brutalised as it was under the talented control of the girl before him.

A small gulp escaped Kazuki as he looked upon the girl heavily focused on whatever it was she was playing. With slightly curled candyfloss hair, a spaceship styled pixel hairclip holding it back (Gala Omega if he remembered the title correctly) Pale pink eyes that flickered occasionally to the life bar at the top of her screen and the main Hope's Peak Academy's uniform, consisting of a brown shirt and skirt which she wore alongside a cream hoodie, black thigh high socks and white loafers.

'Okay, down boy, if you're noticing that much detail, then you're probably not making a good first impression.' Kazuki mentally reprimanded, closing the laptop as he looked to the girl, her deep breath mirroring his own as seconds passed, eyes staring into the other's. 'Wait, the Hope's Peak uniform!? That means…'

"Are you also going to Hope's Peak Academy?" the green haired boy excitedly asked hopping from foot to the other as the girl's head tilted slightly.

"Yeah." It was a simple reply, but it was an opportunity and if there was anything that Kazuki Hiraku knew from experience, it was that when there were flags, you had to grab them no matter what!

"Well, my name's Kazuki Hiraku, the Super High School Level game developer." The boy continued with a slight bow. "I'm new this year, but I'll be in the class… 77-B if I remember right…"

But there was no answer, Kazuki wincing slightly as the girl's glare suddenly intensified, the power of over a hundred men baring down upon him. Every step the girl made forward was one he made back, the glare unchanging even as a small hiss came out of Kazuki when his hand felt wood behind him, the boy collapsing into the bench.

'Way to go Kazuki, murdered on your first day. You didn't even make it to school, applause to you my friend.'

"Really? Did you say Kazuki Hiraku?"

"Um, yes, that's me." He couldn't control the sweat beading down his face, his grip tightening upon the plastic of his laptop at the solemn question, which was why the small yelp escaped him as the girl took him by the hand, fire in her eyes as the Nantendo Game Girl quickly went into some random pocket.

"Kazuki Hiraku, the true name of the game developer Armour-man Origin!? I've played all of the Armour-man series, from Technic to Dimension and I've been waiting for more news of Swap ever since you first announced it!" the girl exclaimed with quiet brilliance. Truth be told, Kazuki was still a bit frightened, but he had faced far worse at the hands of more rabid fans who had managed to see through his persona; it didn't mean that it was normal occurrence to him though. "Is it true that you'll be able to combine previous Armour-man powers!?"

"Well, I did have that planned, but I've still been trying to get the main story levels complete before I get to work on the bonuses." The game developer answered with practiced ease. "I do have a prototype working with Technic and Key, named gears of god, with Gem and Shinobi being next on the list; I'm thinking of calling it stalagmite shadow."

The Armour-man series, the main titles which had gotten Kazuki recognised in the gaming world and served as the basis of his work persona, Armour-man origin. He took the ideas granted to him by Tokusatsu shows and childish thoughts, using his age to spruce it up and make it into a critically acclaimed series, filled with heroes, amazing tales and fierce villains. If you were to trust the critics, apparently it was a miracle of a series, every moment spent entranced in either the story, brilliantly executed combat or exploring immersive worlds all developed by Kazuki's own hands.

"By the way, what's your name?" the boy asked jovially, patting the seat beside him which the girl eagerly took.

"I'm Chiaki Nanami, the Super High School Level Gamer! You'll be in my class!" it astounded Kazuki as to how the girl could be so enthusiastic without losing her whispery tone, though the small distance between the enthusiastic Chiaki and himself was getting slightly choking. "I heard you liked all of the classics, is that true?"

"Well, I've always been a fan of them. My biggest favourite has to be Boom the mouse. I never understood the meaning behind 'bomb processing', but I can at least acknowledge the speed it got for its time." The boy answered, a blissful smile upon his face as nights spent alongside his sister were revisited.

"Boom the mouse!? I've played that around eight times, it's brilliant! I actually have it, do you want to play together!?" Chiaki exclaimed and with the way she held onto his hands, an awkward chuckle escaped the boy.

'It's not like I have a choice in the matter right now…'

"But what about Hope's Peak? Don't we need to get registered?" Kazuki asked before a sweatdrop fell down his face. "Oh yeah, you don't actually have to go to the lessons there. Can you also explain to me why the school hasn't been shut for gross negligence of its students?"

"That doesn't matter! Let's go! I know this wonderful place we can go to!" Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, that soft eagerness was infectious, his hold upon the compute loosening as he gently took the girls proffered hand and let himself be dragged along.

'Well, things are going better than they did before. A friend before I've even gotten to campus… that's definitely a success compared to the last school.' Kazuki mused as he looked up to the sky, still bright with the sun's offerings. 'I do hope we can get to the school before the end of lunch. I did want to explore the campus and dorms.'

Yep, not going to happen.

* * *

Chisa Yukizome, sighed as she dragged the protesting Super High School Level animator behind her, the orange haired ex-Super High School Level housekeeper having been forced to go on such an adventure purely to have her class even appear at her homeroom. Whether it be bringing the great chef from the kitchen with Teruteru Hanamura, attracting the expert gymnast with promises of meat with Akane Owari or threatening a yakuza with knives with Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, The woman had done all that she could in order to have her entire roster present and accounted for and with the apprehension of Ryota Mitarai, it left only two to be found and brought back to school like the rotten oranges they were!

And as luck would have it, her two targets were in plain sight, no attempts to run away or even hide themselves as they were focused on their games consoles, another boy presumably from the reserve class if the uniform meant anything messing about separately with a black laptop, amazement evident on his face.

"How on earth did you make half of this Kazuki? I can barely even understand what the first line is meant to mean and that's just two words!" the brown haired boy upon the laptop exclaimed, throwing his hands up as the girl of the trio, Chiaki Nanami according to the register, tore her eyes from the screen with a victorious sigh, the third person, Kazuki Hiraku, dropping his in defeat.

"I suppose that's what I should expect from someone who's completed all of my games. You even beat the one who thought creating it would give him an advantage. If I had used Key's ability to temporarily access holy protection, the loss of health would've been smaller than what I had lost in my hesitation to Shinobi's Shoton Shadow strike. I shouldn't be surprised you would have the end bonus characters that would use their predecessors' powers. " Kazuki lamented, the brown haired boy by his side giving the coated boy a strange look.

"Why do you say it like that?" he asked, Kazuki suddenly blushing as he turned away, scratching his cheek.

"Sorry Mr. Hinata, I kinda monologue all of my thoughts when I lose or get too agitated. It allows me to scan my thoughts to see where I went wrong and usually I play alone, so yeah…" Kazuki answered with an awkward chuckle until a cough had him back to normal, fingers subconsciously flicking the appropriate buttons so that they could restart the match.

 _ **ARMOUR-MAN BRAWL! SELECT YOUR ARMOUR!**_

 _ **PLAYER 1 – "A brief breeze destroying all evil! Shinobi – Armour-man!"**_

 _ **PLAYER 2 – "I shall unlock my true potential with faith on my side! Key – Armour-man!"**_

"As to the first line, the Import command is kind of like an ordering service, telling the computer you want to use certain modules – features. For example, if I wanted to use a database, I would be able to use SQL, a database management system, by simply writing Import (SQL)." Kazuki further explained with a smile. "You know, it's rare that I see someone so interested in the actual programming segments, most of the time, people are wondering about art direction or story."

"Well I hoped that I could find something I'm good at considering how much goes into game development." The reserve course student explained with a dressed sigh, his slumped posture falling even more. "Ugh, there has to be one thing I'm good at. I have no talents whatsoever."

"Well it doesn't make a difference if you have talent or not." The way Chiaki put so little effort into beating up Kazuki was probably why it was so easy for her to multitask with speaking to Hinata. "It's not like it's the end goal or anything. You people have more freedom than we do. All I have are games; Kazuki, another incredibly talented person, can do more in life than me, but you can go anywhere and become anything."

"Miss. Nanami's right Mr. Hinata." Kazuki quickly agreed with his smile. "I'm sure there's a dream job just waiting for you out there, you just have to find it. I didn't come out of the womb with a computer in hand after all."

"Well, how did you get into game development then?" Hinata asked, Kazuki's eyes slowly falling close as the content smile grew upon his visage.

"I had a dream, like any other kid at a young age. I wanted to fight for justice, for good and beat all of the bad guys with incredible powers, but as I got older, I learnt that things aren't so black and white. That's why I went into games, because unlike things such as reading or movies, you can enjoy the experience with your family and it's interactive and just like a painting, people can get different interpretations. I wanted the game to have a simple premise that could lead to deeper levels of philosophy and soon I was drawing character armours, writing beginner's code and mouthing out various voice lines as I worked."

"Oh okay. Maybe I could find some work in… I don't know. Got any jobs running free?" Hinata wondered, Kazuki's chuckling bringing a smile to the boy's face.

"Think you can come up with an interesting idea for a hero, call me up." The game developer joking announced, the sound of approaching footsteps breaking from his dreaming long enough to realise he had just given Chiaki a completely free perfect win. "You could at least pause the game when I'm telling my backstory Miss. Nanami."

"Oh, so are you two Kazuki Hikaru and Chiaki Nanami?" Chisa asked as she approached the bench, a near lifeless corpse being dragged behind her. "I'm Chisa Yukizome and I'm going to be your homeroom teacher for now!"

"Um, who's that behind you?" Kazuki asked, the lively teacher throwing a look to the groaning mass before happily grinning.

"Oh him? He's another of your classmates, but you can all socialise when you get to class. As for you… you're from the reserve course, aren't you?"

"The reserve course?" Chiaki repeated, Chisa giving her a frown as she looked to Hinata.

"You don't know? It was introduced last year actually. They accept the ordinary students and just give them extremely high fees to work off of." The teacher explained, an unvoiced 'oh' coming from both Super High School Level students while Hinata pulled at his tie with a swallowed objection. "Well then, sorry to drag off Nanami and Hikaru like this…"

"Hajime, Hajime Hinata. I don't mind really." Hinata answered, passing the computer back to Kazuki, who accepted it with a smile as he gave a look to the screen at the expectant glare of Chiaki.

"Another, Miss. Chiaki? Okay then, but this time I'm pulling out all of the stops! Developer's cheats! Activate!"

"Wah!? Double health and a constantly full force bar!? That's not fair!"

"Well I can't fight fair against the Super High School Level gamer!"

Chisa gave a sigh as she looked down to her hand, the student's foot in her hand being her one obstacle. An impish grin had to take over though as she pulled her trusty rope out of… somewhere and with a minute's flourish, she had her own personal lasso tied around the boy's feet leading to her waist, leaving both hands free to pick up Kazuki and Chiaki, much to the former's objection.

"Well then, I suppose I'll see you later then!" the teacher declared, Hinata rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

"Oh, yeah."

"So that's everyone now! Let's go!"

Hinata smiled at the odd sight; it was a relaxing disproving of the many rumours that circulated the grounds, but what he hadn't expected to see was Chiaki's silent wave goodbye alongside Kazuki's more vocal promise.

"Remember Mr. Hinata! You've got to come up with some game ideas for me!"

"…Yeah."

* * *

 **Okay, that's it for now! Well sort of, as you can see, the second chapters already uploaded at the same time as this one, so yay! please tell me what you think of this. I'm always happy to hear how I can improve as a writer, even if I don't respond to you sometimes... most of the time, but school related stuff keeps me busy!**


	2. 2 - ready for lessons?

**We're playing multiplayer online right now, no pausing! Right, now we've got the incredibly cheesy intro out of the way, I'm hoping to start introducing the rest of the cast, though the people who will grow directly close to Kazuki will be kept somewhat vague, but when you think about what goes into Game creation, it shall make some of them more easy to guess. There's one I don't think you'll expect though... Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Hey Mr. Emiya, what's bugging you at work?_

 _Shirou: Class is in session, I'm sure it will be all fine._

 _Kazuki: I mean, with all of these lovely people, what could go wrong?_

 _Shirou: See, that's a healthy viewpoint!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

"Oi, oi, who's the new guy then? I don't remember seeing him the last year."

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, titled the Super High School Level Yakuza, was a rough boy to say the least. Abrasive, uncaring and all too willing to show threaten people with death, the blonde boy in a brown waistcoat was perfectly happy with raising his legs upon the table with a scoff, though the sharp glare of their teacher was enough for him to pull them down with rolled eyes.

"Yeah, guy looks like he's going to faint any moment! Ooh, this one's going to be fun to break!" Another declared, a kimono clad girl, shorter than the rest of the class but with a frightening wicked streak to make up for it. Hiyoko Saionji, the Super High School Level traditional dancer, was a sugar coated poison, just as happy to manipulate with her childish charm as she was to crush innocent creatures just to hear the noise they made. A sharp rap on the top of her head had the girl moaning, looking to the redheaded girl with wet eyes as she took her seat.

"You shouldn't antagonise a person as soon as they walk through the door, I though you would at least give them time to introduce themselves first." The girl scolded, resting her camera upon the wood of her desk. Mahiru Koizumi – the Super High School Level Photographer had become renowned for her amazing images that had been granted many awards, her pictures of people being particularly loved. As Chisa moved to the front of the class, having gently deposited Chiaki in her seat, the teacher set down Kazuki with a small cheer, turning to her class with a clap.

"Okay kids, we've got a new arrival here! Kazuki, why don't you introduce yourself?" At the teacher's insistence, Kazuki pulled at his collar, a small stop at his house allowing him to change for Hope's Peak uniform sans the jacket, replaced by his gifted Crombie coat.

"Well, hello. I'm Kazuki Hiraku, given the title of Super High School Level Game Developer. I hope that I won't be too much of a bother to you." With a slight bow, Kazuki let a smile come onto his face, hidden by his green hair as the visage turned back to nervous stone as he rose. There hadn't been too much vocal objection, so maybe he would be able to just-

"Yeesh, he looks like such a push over." Hiyoko declared as she rested her head upon hr desk, only to jump up at Chisa's slammed hands.

"Now that's no way to act! He's another one I expect you all to make friends with! Isn't that the main point of school?" the teacher declared, hands reaching to her hips as the orange haired woman gave a firm look to her students. "I'm sure this is just the start of something beautiful, so I want you all to make the most of this, okay? You aren't going to be in school forever, so seize the time you have to make some brilliant memories!"

With such enthusiasm coming from his new teacher, the smile slowly inched its way back onto Kazuki's face. At least his teacher had faith in him, even if it was just because he was the new kid and she was obligated to do so.

'From the looks of things, it doesn't seem as if the majority of these people mind either. It's not as harsh as I expected it to be considering they're getting a new kid after having some time already to bond… Miss Nanami looks really happy.'

"Well, it looks like the only free seat is… behind Komaeda Nagito."

Oh, how lucky we must be to have a new student!" Komaeda Nagito was the Super High School Level lucky student, able to turn even the most unfortunate incident into one of pure fortune, even if it wasn't exactly aimed towards him. The evidence was in how the pink haired Souda Kazuichi, The Super High School Level mechanic, was wrapped in near a thousand bandages, his being hit by a truck allowing Komaeda to both get his money from a vending machine that refused to give him a drink as well as the entire stock of the drink, his desk already full of multiple cans. "I'm sure he can make this class' hope burn even brighter!"

"Um… I'll try my best!" there was little else he could say as he settled in place, a hand glancing down to his stuff before pulling back; It didn't really make sense to bring anything out consider the orange tones of the sky…

* * *

"So you make games? Got any projects running right now?"

 _ **PLAYER 2 WINS! BEAT! "You just need to get on my wavelength!"**_

Kazuki gave a sigh as he put down the game girl in his hands, Chiaki brought out of her 'focus phase' as the boy had begun to call it, at the enquiry of Souda, the mechanic sitting on the desk in front of them with his feet upon the chair. Without the proper space, the pair had been forced to just shove another chair onto Chiaki's desk.

"Oh, yeah. I was working on it before Miss Nanami challenged me Mr. Kazuichi." Kazuki answered, slipping his hand into the bag and pulling out his laptop. "Have you heard about my Armour-man series?"

"Totally, I brought the first game actually on a whim and loved it!" the shark toothed boy replied with a large grin as he leant back on his arms. "Technic appealed to my machinery side, so I had to check it out; the fact that it looked so cool just helped that along."

" _It looks so cool! I wish I could be a hero, going around defeating evil!"_

"And what did you think about the moral behind it? I tried to make sure it wasn't too in your face while still making it central." Kazuki asked; the file needed to time to load and on his laptop, that time would only be increased.

"What, you mean about tech being bad without proper control? Well that's basic stuff, nothing to big – oh, no offence man." The mechanic replied with a hand to his chin, though he nearly fell off of his wooden desk when the pink haired gamer leaned forward, her determination evident.

"The main moral was that you cannot mess too much with the way of the world, like how Simon Fillage's Si-Fi group tried to change the entire world into a more advanced form, but if god didn't want us to use technology to better ourselves, he wouldn't have made it possible! We have to preserve and build upon, not destroy and build from! I only got that after four play throughs though, I think."

"It's nice that you put so much time into the first game Miss Nanami." Kazuki wasn't entirely proud of that first project, even if it had been the one to kick start it all off. Done in a basic pixel game maker with hours spent drawing the non-pixelated sprites out, he had expected to see a few who enjoyed it and the majority to just pass it by as one of those 'maker' games.

Well, to his surprise, it was a big success, people praising his work as one of the best things to come out of the maker and as interest picked up, he managed to afford the stuff to create a second game, changing the theme of technology and nature to religion with Key. With a fundraiser eagerly being over successful, he had made the second instalment and it had been just as loved as the original, especially when it was found that he had included the ability to take on the powers of the original and the original could take on the powers of his predecessor. Despite the Armour-man series would bring, he could never find the will to remake the original, the blocky origins a faithful reminder of what he had come from and what could be achieved.

"Well, Right now I've got the concept of someone who can combine two different abilities and can swap them out for different forms, connected to the upper and lower half. Kazuki stated, bringing up a video he had rendered, the main character standing upon a red and blue swirl of a background.

 _ **COMBINE AND CONQUER! TWO POWERS WILL BECOME ONE!**_

 _ **RED MIX!**_

 _ **BLUE MIX!**_

" _ **Let's mix it –armour- up!"**_

 _ **FUSION UP! FLAME! ICE! SWAP – BALANCE!**_

 _ **"When we unite, we can fight! Swap - Armour-man!"**_

"I need a company that'll want to take it up. I've been planning on getting it for a console this time, considering that quite a few of my recent releases have been on handhelds. Ever since I got Armour-man collision course on the game girl, I've been sticking to the handhelds a little too much." Kazuki remarked as he scratched his cheek, closing the laptop. "I also need to think up the main villains. I've been trying to go with a' dark lord' kind of feeling, but I just haven't got the mind-set for that."

"Oh, that's simple enough. If It's the dark lord kind of thing you're going for, just talk to Gundham. He calls himself something like the dark lord of ice, but he's the Super High School Level breeder." Souda replied until a dark aura fell upon them all, Kazuki subconsciously shuffling slightly closer to Chiaki as a dark voice called out with echoed tones.

"Do not use that name! To utter that would be to unseal a great evil that would devour the world in an instant, its terrible fate lying in your bloody hands!" While the school uniform he wore was the exact same as everyone else's, the long purple scarf that wound around his neck, as well as the belt, boots and shirt, certainly served to give the boy a much more menacing presence, the long streak in his hair adding to the rather chilling effect.

"Dude, are you actually scared of him? He's just a big softy trying to act hard." With a scoff and an elbow to Kazuki's side, the mechanic held up a hand. "Don't try to freak out the new kid, let him settle in first. He actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Really? What could a pitiful mortal such as you have with one like I, Tanaka the forbidden one?" Gundham asked, a single eyebrow rising as the green haired bow seemed to sink into his seat. "now this though, if it isn't sufficiently intriguing, I shall have my dark devas of destruction strike you down where you stand."

"I… just wanted to have some assistance with my work Mr. Tanaka. I was wondering if you could tell me about what it's like to be a… dark lord." The idea was rather foreign in his lips, Kazuki wondering if perhaps it had been a bit too insulting when the ensuing silence from the boy came.

"… I appreciate the interest you show and the respect you put to my name, but a dark lord is not a road you should wish to follow." Gundham eventually answered, turning his back on the trio. "My body is filed with poison and my life has been harsh. To bear that curse is something even I cannot wish upon someone else."

"I don't wish to follow in your path, I want to show the pain!" Gundham paused, Chiaki tilting her head at the game developer's statement. "Even villains have to have sympathy, they're still humans after all, so if I can learn what it's like to be a dark lord, I can properly convey the struggles and pain they have to go through!"

"Hey Chiaki, Does the new kid actually think Gundham's a dark lord?" Souda asked, turning only to find that Chiaki had already booted up another round of Gala Omega, the pink haired boy giving a sigh. There was no chance he was talking to her when she was like that. "Well, at least the new kid's making friends."

* * *

"So, you couldn't take it then?" Kazuki was panting, unaware that he still had a grip on Chiaki's arm as he leant against the wall of the classroom before quickly coming off of it; there was still a chance that they would blow the damn thing up with their craziness. Upon the floor, Ryota Mitarai was busy with his digital canvas, pen flicking back and forth as the chubby Super High School Level animator worked on some basic models, the facial features yet to be filled as a stylus formed the skirt of one.

"I'm honestly surprised I managed to make it this long! Miss Owari and Mr. Nidai have practically destroyed the classroom and I figured that when Madam Yukizome let them continue, that was enough." Kazuki said, sliding to the ground as Chiaki followed, not of her own volition. One look to his hand still holding on to the gamer's arm had the boy crying out in surprise, pulling away with a bowed head. "Ah, I'm so sorry Miss Nanami!"

"Everyone's crazy." The girl commented, her eyes to the ground as she curled her legs into herself. "They don't come together as a group at all."

"It's not like people such as us need to group together anyway." Ryota countered, his eyes glued to the screen of his own as he diligently breathed life into the black and white world upon his canvas. "If you have talent, then your future is secured. We're all kids gathered across the country that come under that motto and as soon as we graduate, we'll be set for life."

"But there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to bond well… mostly." Kazuki declared with firm fists to his knees. "Miss Nevermind and Miss Koizumi are lovely girls, Miss Tsumiki just needs to get more confidence and Mr. Nagito's unique in his own way, just like Mr. Tanaka! Sure, Mr. Kuzuryuu and Miss Pekoyama are a little scary at times and Mr. Hanamura gives me weird looks, but they're also good! Then there's Miss Mioda, Her music is cool, and I love Miss Saionji's dances, plus there's Mr. Kazuichi and his machines-"

"Take a breath." Kazuki let out an awkward chuckle at his rambling, standing up with a stretch.

"Sorry about that Mr. Mitarai. But the point is, it's not like they couldn't find a reason to mesh, so what's stopping them?"

"Most likely the fact that they don't need to unite because there's nothing they have to pass by doing so." Ryota answered, his pen pausing for a brief second before resuming its task. "We really don't have a reason to make friend either, the only one who seems to be actively doing it is you Kazuki."

"Either way, my gaming talents won't earn me any friends."

"Miss Nanami, don't say things like that! Of course it will!" the girl raised her head, not expecting to see the boy sitting right in front of her with her hands in his own. In amber eyes, deep offence glimmered, not a sound depicting his movement from the wall.

"If games couldn't help you make friends then why does multiplayer exist? It's the reason why people are able to bond over them, enjoy playing even with absolute strangers! You can make friend with games, lifelong ones, because it shows that you share similar interests, are willing to place your own life in the hands of others and they trust you in return! Sure, some games are made to pit friend against friend, but that just adds to the fun!"

"He's right, totally right!" Chisa peeked her head through the door, followed by the crashes and grunts of the two battling within mixing with the complaints of the bystanders. "So you think you can't make friends with games? Do the games you love so much mean so little to you?"

"Of course not!" Chiaki exclaimed, her whispered passion clear in her voice before she looked to herself in surprise, Chisa smiling at her students.

"If games are fun to play by yourself, then playing them with other people is sure to be double the fun!" the teacher explained, A rigorous nod coming from Kazuki.

"After all, isn't that why we've been playing games together miss Nanami?" the game developer continued. "And if we play them with everyone, then it's sure to be a whole load of fun!"

"Playing together… with everyone…" Years of being alone, with only her games for company… she hadn't been able to play games with friends because games were her friends. Fantasy worlds full of adventure where even the weakest child could become a valiant hero on a quest to save the world, an impressive soldier able to survive the harsh worlds of war and even a girl with the power to manipulate gravity itself. But usually, that power had only been hers and hers alone, no one else to share the experience with because, well, who wanted to be friends with girl who just spent her days playing video games?

"I actually have a perfect idea, if you want to hear it?" A devious smirk had somehow snuck its way onto the face of Kazuki, the boy smoothening out his clothes as he began to pace. "I'm sure we can get something to bring them all together and all I need is a bit more time to set everything up..."

"Kazuki? What are you planning?" Chiaki asked, looking to the boy as he gave her a bright smile.

"Can you come to my room with me!? I want to plan something special together!"

"Kazuki Hiraku, I expected better of you! If you wanted to do that, you could at least tell me and Ryota to go away, don't you know that girls like it when you make it special?"

"Miss Yukizome, I think we should go…" watching with a sweatdrop as the chubby animator pulled the teacher away, Chisa waving like mad, Kazuki sighed before holding a hand out to Chiaki.

"Would you like to be friends with your classmates?"

* * *

 **Yeah, this is pretty basic, just exposition for the backstory behind Kazuki. Once again, tell me what you think about this and how it could be improved. Next, we'll start introducing some other people who may or may not play a very important in this... Oh who am I kidding?**

 **Of course they won't.**


	3. 3 - ready for games?

**So you're here again, didn't expect to see that. I think out of my stories, this is the one that's just going to be my guit story; I write not because it's super amazing for a concept or even really original, I write because I like Danganronpa and I want to shove as much stupidity in it as possible. I hope that made sense... Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: With the gun, shoot for the stars Shirou!_

 _Shirou: And you should make the best games you can Kazuki! Your future depends on it!_

 _Kazuki: That should be fine... all my classmates act like game characters anyway!_

 _Shirou: Well then, I guess I'm the one who's got it hard... Oh well, Summon ride: Saber!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

The room was standard fare, save for the large computer set up that swallowed the majority of the desk space. Whenever it came to homework or the sort, Kazuki would most likely just take to the bed with a wooden tray; his legs would be suitable for the job.

In this case though, he would have to utilise them both, several unfinished projects being quickly booted up as he guided the gamer to his bed, Chiaki looking around the room in muted awe. Several hastily placed up posters decorated the walls, numerous faces of his own design and others looking down like deities.

"So you want to do something to bring everyone together? What're you going to do?" Chiaki asked, letting her game girl fall to the fabric of the bed. In response, a rapid tapping echoed in the room, the boy resting his coat upon the back of the given seat. Lit by the glow of a screen, Kazuki let a smile enter his face once more as he entered his zone. Within the virtual workspace of his computer, he was god, and who didn't want to be powerful and the creator of an entire world, even multiple?

"Well, we can get Mister Kazuichi to create a TV big enough in order to get a good size and with my new tech, I can probably get a new game ready!" the green haired boy happily declared, not a single second wasted letting his fingers rest as they flew over the keys. "I figured having you here could potentially make things go down easier and you can give me a bit of help with getting the various designs ready."

That caused the pink haired girl to perk up. She had gotten numerous day 1 releases, spending her time waiting for games by playing other _**games,**_ sometimes even just beating the others waiting in line with her. Helping those games be actually born though was new to the girl as she approached the screen, looking to the various models and the odd background Kazuki had hastily placed in.

"You know, it's just a placeholder. I've got the right stuff ready to be put in, but I hadn't found a reason to do so until now." The boy explained, a slow nod coming from the girl as she messed about. "I've got a gamepad connected and it should work as long as I can get the console in school."

"Ah, I've got this console! I guess I can bring it into class, probably." Chiaki replied as Kazuki got the game started, Kazuki's voice coming out of the speakers as two characters near fell into the stage, a floating platform with two smaller variants above.

"The main purpose is to try and build up your meter before unleashing a special attack, the only thing that could actually kill the opponents. There are three levels and each one gives an attack that makes defeating multiple people easier, the controls are on the screen next to the main one." The actual game was rather ridiculous, various emphasised screams and over the top effects decorating the screen as the two duked it out in front of what appeared to be a picture of Kazuki with another girl.

"That's my sister. She wanted to be 'immortalised' in the games I made, so I use this photo in every prototype game I make and then when I make the full thing, I just keep it in the files. We don't really look alike, so I've got numerous different guesses about who she is; I think one chat tried to explain why she was my girlfriend…" a small twitch from the Super High School Level game developer meant that he was just in reach of Chiaki's ultimate uppercut, sending his character into the sky to be one with the stars as he placed the controller to the wood of his desk.

"Your sister's really cute." Chiaki commented with a smile to the boy, who took a hand to his hair as he awkwardly chuckled.

"Yeah, she's one of the best things that have been given to me. She's trying to join the academy as well, something like the Super High School Level public speaker. I've had her write several of the really big speeches that happened in the series and they seem to go down really well!" there was a vibrancy to his voice as he spoke of his sister and the gamer couldn't help the silent giggle that escaped as the boy gushed.

"There was even one time where she tried to use a megaphone as a gun, yelling through it to try and scare of people. Apparently, the power of her voice is all she needs to stop people in the middle of their tracks." The boy started as he turned to Chiaki an eager smile decorating his face. "I never did ask, do you have any siblings?"

"Nah, I've always been alone, I think." With her a hand to her chin, she didn't see the sad frown sent her way as Kazuki rebooted the game, a flash of his fingers replacing the background with the war torn sky it was mean to be. "It doesn't matter, I've had my games to keep me busy."

"But do they really keep you from being lonely?" Kazuki questioned, rapidly shutting down the game once more, his mouse flickering to and from the button that would compile the code which would make his game. He had several issues still present in the broken English and numbers, but they wouldn't be too damaging to the gameplay and if it was for his classmates, then they _probably_ wouldn't break anything.

"No... But that's what the class is for, right? But everybody's so aggro… no multiplayer vibe at all." The gamer girl sighed, sinking into her seat as Kazuki awkwardly patted her back.

"Well, I'm sure that with this, everyone will get along better. We should get other people to contribute too! I' sure Mr. Hanamura will cook something special and maybe Miss Mioda will give a song. Maybe Miss Saionji will also give a dance, her family is really famous and I've seen a whole bunch of the events they've put on." Kazuki suggested, Chiaki letting the boy ramble on, pulling the game girl from the bed behind her.

Several hours would pass with them alone in that room, Chiaki bursting through the levels as the boy sat in silence as he worked once the words escaped him. Neither noticed the odd glances that they traded when the other wasn't looking, but that doesn't mean they neither spoke. Chatter flowed freely between them as the discussed the game's mechanics, who would most likely to play which character and the like and though it didn't seem like it would at the time, they would find themselves returning to this situation time and time again, never with the arrival of someone else. This was their time.

* * *

Chisa had to lift her head from the blue notebook in her hands when the rampant yelling came from one of the classrooms, the noise drifting through the hallways at such a volume, it was a surprise that some random teacher hadn't gone to scold whoever was making the noise already. The closed curtains gave them away immediately and as the orange haired ex-housekeeper quietly approached, the undescriptive yells began to form coherent sentences.

"Hey Chiaki! They're almost down for the count!" Owari's voice wasn't hard to pick from the crowd as the door slid open without a single sound, Chisa gently joining the gathered group.

"Hey, what are you guys all doing?" holding back the giggle that threatened to erupt from her mouth as Souda near leapt out of his skin, the woman turned slightly, Ibuki's enthusiastically raised fist skimming skin.

"It may not look like it… But we're playing games!" the musician cried, Hiyoko turning her irritated visage onto the energetic girl.

"Isn't that obvious? Anyone can see that." Lit only by the glow of the ginormous screen, Souda's confident smile was present for all to see, sharp teeth bred in a great grin.

"Surprised? I built this monitor myself!" the Super High School Level mechanic declared, his thumb pointing to his face.

"The console came from Chiaki, but Kazuki was kind enough to supply the games! It appears that it came as a price though…" Sonia explained, looking to the small corner beside the screen where the boy mentioned sat. With his Crombie draped over his body and a small smile gracing his face, Chisa gave a sigh at the sleeping boy.

"They both suggested that we play together, saying that they wanted to test out some of the games Kazuki developed." Teruteru added, the ramblings of Souda in a technophilic boasting rant lost to the sounds of the game. Battling fiercely in a desolate wasteland only inhabited by strange robots, Nidai and Gundham were ripping into each other, the animal breeder fighting with a hamster born from a google search and a great amount of effort from Kazuki and the coach charging forward with a strange robot of his own. Chiaki was using an odd blob dressed in her own hoodie and Akane was thrashing about with her gorilla, chosen by Kazuki thanks to its creative agile abilities.

With a grand roar in real life, the robot dashed towards Chiaki's blob, only to be met by the fur of Gundham's hamster. Floating away without a single care, the gamer's character could only watch as the two met in a fierce battle for supremecy.

"You fool! If you continue to push this attack, we shall both end up with our demises!" the dark lord yelled, furiously mashing away at the controller, Nidai however was not to be discouraged, the controller looking abnormally small in his hands as he pounded away with equal fury.

"Bring it on! I'll take you down with one hand tied behind my back!"

As the two fell to their doom, the Super High School Level gymnast cheering at their deaths, Chiaki turned with a soft smile to their teacher.

"Miss Yukizome… You can make friends with games. You and Kazuki showed me that." An arm quickly wound around her neck, Akane pulling her close with a smile firmly plastered upon her face.

"Come on Chiaki, the next round's starting soon!"

"Right."

* * *

"I'm fairly sure Kazuki altered the game files on this one, but I don't know what he did…" Chiaki commented over Fuyuhiko's shoulder, the yakuza playing against Komaeda, Teruteru and Souda.

"I've never played multiplayer before!" the mechanic exuberantly declared, his filled counter ticking as the numbers continued to add. "I'm only two spaces from the goal now! Looks like you have a poverty god hanging over you Komaeda!"

"Maybe my good luck's just running out." The white haired boy replied with a smile, the navigator of the game appearing in a cloud of pink.

" _ **Don't worry president! I'll draw a card for you!"**_

The cheerful buzzing of an alarm came with the ten dice Komaeda had been gifted the boy chuckling as the resultant throw started to settle.

"All ten of them are sixes… that should take me to the goal then!"

"You jerk! Is that even allowed!?" the mechanic cried, making his own throw, though the controller didn't give him a lucky result as it smashed onto the classroom's floor.

"Sorry, but luck's the only thing I have going for me."

"So he dropped the poverty god onto Souda and reached the goal." The Super High School Level yakuza scoffed, letting his controller fall to his lap. "That's rough."

"No, all of my assets!" standing behind the boy, Chisa had to back away from the cloud that seemed to form over his head, pink hair appearing slightly more flat than its previous hold.

" _ **Ha ha, you don't need all that money! Kazuki sends his love Souda!"**_

"He did this special for me!?"

* * *

There will be none who will pass by Ibuki!" the Super High School Level light music club member declared with pride, her driver zooming down the road. As one of the last projects he had worked on, Kazuki had merely replicated her drills, placing it on top of another generic girl after messing around with her colour scheme.

"I won't lose." A hooded blob soared past her character, a sharp gasp coming from the rocker.

"Ah, I got passed!"

"I'm going on ahead too!" a girl dressed in blue gave a cheeky wave, taunting laughter quickly quietening down as it took off after Chiaki.

"Ah, passed again!" with the spinning of the item selections above, a wild grin overtook Ibuki's visage as it landed upon the lightning bolt; one swift use and there would be issue in getting to first once more!

"I just need to time it carefully an-!" a splash mixed with Hiyoko's giggles blocked by the controller in front of her mouth, the blonde easily passing by thanks to her invincibility. "I fell in the sea!"

"I'm finished."

"Me too! I'm in second."

With a great tug from the digital man, Ibuki's cart was brought back onto the track and with the position she was in, there should be no tro-

The rainbow bullet heading backwards was blocked by her own cart's size.

"One more time, just for fun!" the traditional dancer exclaimed, driving off at half speed; it really didn't matter at this point.

* * *

"Ah! We need to bring out the food!"

"Oh, Kazuki. Are you feeling better? I didn't know what to do with you when you suddenly fell asleep on my shoulder." the boy pulled the coat off of himself with a blush, draping it over his shoulders as he looked to the class staring at him. They had just finished their round of bakuhatsu bombers if the depressing screen meant anything, all four characters apparently blown up near enough at the same time.

"Me? Oh, yeah, I'm fine Miss Nevermind. Did you guys enjoy the games?" the boy asked in return, a resoundingly positive reply coming back. "Nice! I guess that means you're onto the food now then?"

"Food?" the teacher echoed, her nose twitching as she looked around. "This scent… meat?"

"Everybody, you must be hungry!" holding a giant pot, Teruteru walked in with a confident strut, Hiyoko following after and flicking on the lights. With a swift movement, the lid was lifted to reveal a gourmet mix of still firm potatoes and succulent beef, still stewing in their rich sauce.

"It's a Versailles style queue de boeuf, presented as a meat and potato stew!" the Super High School level chef declared, brushing a hand through the bangs that came down his face.

"Versai… what?" Mahiru asked, the redhead turning to Teruteru, only to see the boy get shoved aside for Hiyoko.

"Basically, it's like nikujaga!" the traditional dancer replied, the Super High School Level Photographer just silently nodding. "I actually helped out a bit!"

"Hey, you only helped at the very end! If you're going to help, then you have to do so from the beginning…"

"Wow… this is certainly Super High School Level…" Chisa stated in awe, looking to the bubbling queue de boeuf, the creamy sauce slowly falling from the ladle as she lifted it.

"Chiaki and Kazuki made the request to Teruteru!" Ibuki happily explained, Peko Pekoyama, the Super High School level swordwoman coming towards the pot with softened red eyes.

"They actually brought it up in a text as the rest of us were repairing the classroom." The grey haired girl stated. "She wanted to make sure we would eat well when we were playing and Kazuki wanted to make it special."

"Sometimes, I end up getting so engrossed in games, I end up forgetting to eat." The gamer admitted with a light blush.

"It's the same for me on occasion too, though not to the extent that Miss Nanami suggests." Kazuki added, bringing in the plates and cutlery easily 'borrowed' from the kitchen. Being a French style dish, it would only be appropriate to eat with the right utensils.

"Ah, I-!"

A sudden rumbling over took the classroom, a scramble to reach for solid support quickly overtaking the students.

"It cannot be! The unspeakable demon king, who resides in the depths of the nine hells, has returned!?" Gundham exclaimed, a suffocating purple aura surrounding him until Nidai broke through, holding a drooling Akane in his arms.

"Nah, it's just her stomach."

"Don't worry, I made lots, so have as much as you like!" the chef announced, a great cheer coming from the gymnast.

"AW YEAH!"

* * *

"So, everyone has their plates now, right? Then, let's put our hands together and…"

"Itadakimasu!"

"I want seconds!"

Sat in a circle upon the classroom floor, Kazuki gave a chuckle from his place nestled between Chiaki and Hiyoko. Barely a second had passed before Akane was in front of the chef, standing guard over the giant pot.

"How fast do you work!?"

A tender bite went through Chiaki's lips, the gamer holding her look of intrigue until it rested upon her taste buds. Almost immediately, the smooth taste threatened to ruin every further meal, the beef gently sautéed beforehand to bring out those hidden flavours, combined with the vegetables that leant a small crunch to the stew. The velvety sauce seemed to coat your mouth, no escape from the delicio-

"It's alright."

"How can you say that when you looked so amazed before!?" the chef cried, leaning back when a plate was violently thrusted in his direction.

"Give me thirds!"

"Do you even know how to savour the flavour Akane?"

"It's absolutely delicious! I feel as if my ears are going to fall off of my face!" the Super High School Level princess declared with a bright smile, Souda's matching hers in enthusiasm.

"Almost there, just a little bit closer forward!"

"It really is good Mr. Hanamura!" Kazuki added, delicately yet energetically chomping through his meal until the fork fell from his hand, amber eyes turning to the kimono clad girl next to him.

In that moment, no one had ever appeared more radiant.

* * *

 **Yeah, you know what comes next. I think I'm going to have Kazuki interact more closely with class 78 as well as his own, but I don't think I'm going to go higher too often. I don't think I could give their characters the proper care they deserve and the lower class has characters that work well with mine. It might not seem like it now, but there's going to be one big difference that i couldn't put on the description because it would spoil a big change.**


	4. 4 - ready for romance?

**Yeah, let's do this then. I don't really know how to portray this properly, so I just thought I would make him do what i would do if I fell under something like this... to be honest, that probably doesn't sound to good for me, does it? Oh well, let's just get to the ero ero fun times already! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Ooh... I don't think I should've eaten that..._

 _Shirou: We're putting on a show, archer vs lancer!_

 _Kazuki: Everything seems so... pink... fluffy..._

 _Shirou: Um, Kazuki? That doesn't exactly sound all that healthy..._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

If you were to ask Kazuki what the most important thing he could ever cherish at any other point other than now, it would most likely his family. They weren't something you could easily replace, you couldn't find something of equivalent value and buy it and most likely, they are the most influential aspects of your very being. At this very second however, the answer would be completely different.

He had been rather isolated as a child, not for any particular reason other than the sheer fact that he was shy and struggled with making friends. It was the main reason as to why he fell so in love with games and why he started making them himself; they had been a friend to him and thus, he wanted others to be able to share that happiness. Of course, that wasn't to say that games had made up his entire life. TV had also been utilised a lot and it was how he had first come into contact with the world of traditional dancing

He hadn't been deliberately looking for it. It happened to have been a television promotion for the Saionji family where they were showing off their students and it just completely enraptured him. The flowing movements, gentle elegance, the smooth beauty of every single second, it had left him glued to the screen. Whenever he hadn't been working on another of his games or dreaming up concepts, he had been watching those dances whenever possible, relishing the wonderful bliss they gave.

Which was why, when he learnt of who he would be sharing a class with, he had been elated. Every single person was such an incredibly unique personality, they surpassed some of his own crafted characters, but there was one person he had been personally aiming to speak with: the kimono clad blonde to his side. He had seen Saionji Hiyoko preform before, far younger than any of the other girls in the show, but just as excellent in her dancing. He had been privately hoping that he would somehow be able to get a performance out of her, but it was only now that Kazuki recognised her true divinity.

Whatever Hiyoko had been expecting, it certainly wasn't the slim arms that wrapped around her, a head gently resting against the back of her neck to the surprise of the rest of the class.

"H-hey, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" the girl yelled in outrage, but there was no way to break out of the iron grip even with all of the force she could muster going into the hands that tried to pry herself out.

"Miss Saionji… I'm so happy that we get to share a class…" the words were a small whisper, but they still managed to cause a bright blush to break out on the Super High School Level traditional dancer. "I always thought you were so beautiful on stage… your movements were so graceful, you looked like you loved every moment…"

* * *

"Hey, what's up with the new kid?" Nidai asked, only to turn to the thud beside him, Akane limp upon the floor before the Super High School Level team coach lifted her up by the shoulders. "What's wrong!?"

"N-no, stop… Don't touch me…" there was a weakness to the gymnast's voice as a blush graced her cheeks, the coach unable to avert his eyes. He took on crimson of his own as he quickly released Akane, the sigh of luscious tanned skin and brown eyes that sucked you in….

'What is this feeling? Why is my heart racing?' like magnets, they drew closer together, not a word spoken until they were nearly touching.

"Nidai, old man…"

"M-my body's burning up! My heart's ready to charge!" Ibuki exclaimed, only able to move a few steps before falling to her knees, panting. Soon, the entire class fell victim to the ridiculous romance virus, Mahiru lifting her camera to the heavens as a few buttons just so happened to be undone.

"No, no selfies… the focus will blur." The excuse was weak and the constant snapping of the camera spoke for the integrity of a love struck redhead. With weak knees, Teruteru crawled to his case, gently lifting the lid to give a massive yell.

"No, y-you did it Hiyoko!" he cried, hands desperately to his groin as he looked to the girl still trapped in the game developer's loving embrace. "Of all of the options… You used my ero ero soup, full of amnesiacs!"

A particularly harsh struggle had a bottle roll from the sleeves of the crimson faced girl, traces of pink leaking out of the top.

"This is a matter of serious concern…" it was the only sentence that could escape Chisa's mouth before she fell to the ground, a useless mass of blue and orange. Beside her sat Chiaki, back against the wall as she tried to regain her breath while on the other side, Gundham found himself surrounded by his hamsters, what would be a menacing aura emanating from his entire right arm if it hadn't have been for the hot pink glow to it.

"S-settle yourself, my cursed arm…" he hissed, though it did little to stop either his tortured limb or the furry admirers that surrounded him.

"Y-yes, me too…" There was no hope for the pink haired Mechanic as soon as his eyes fell upon the vulnerable princess, a steady approach paired with the gradual unzipping of his blue work suit.

"Hey, keep yourself together!" a red faced Fuyuhiko yelled, grabbing the other boy's hand before it could descend too far.

"Let go of me, I need to help Sonia!" Souda complained, a battle of muscle quickly occurring.

"You call yourself a man?" the yakuza asked, forcing the plastic back up even as the mechanic placed all he had into unzipping it, all in the name of the blonde princess upon the ground.

"The young master is…" Peko was quick to raise herself off of the ground, even in the drugged state. With her shinai in hand, the silver haired Super High School Level Swordswoman had only a second before a blanket of purple filled her sight, an atypical yelp coming from the girl.

"Please Peko, let me borrow your sword…" Mikan purred, stroking the bamboo as she drew the embarrassed girl further into the nurse's embrace.

"W-why…?"

"Just… the tip…"

"What will you use it for!?" Peko asked in outrage, the leg coming between hers about to reach incredibly dangerous areas but this was one of her classmates; even if she wished to, there was to be no harming them. Resting with an arm upon his leg, Komaeda gave a sigh as he looked upon the love-struck class, a bright smile pasted upon his face even as mist gathered at his lips.

"Hope… It really does feel amazing, huh?"

* * *

Her struggles slowly began to lessen as Hiyoko let herself fall into the embrace slightly. It was… warm, the only way to describe it. There was something oddly familiar about Kazuki's embrace, the way he just seemed to make the two of them fit together so well, the quiet breaths that tickled the edges of her ear… it wasn't as if he _wasn't_ cute or anything either… maybe if she just let it happen for just a moment mo-

"I see you didn't eat the queue de boeuf… Well then, how about I give you some Daikon radish instead…?" every muscle in Hiyoko's body tensed, the dancer's eyes turning slowly to the near burning Teruteru as he rose from the floor, a near tangible aura flaring around the chef. "You have awakened a surge of lust within me; no one can stop me now!"

"She turned away, all of those who would help her turned to lustful lunatics due to her own actions. She couldn't escape due to the arms surrounding her and it didn't seem as if Kazuki would be letting go anytime soon.

"U-um, you can lick the bottom of my shoes…" she weakly suggested, Teruteru's nose flaring at the thought.

"I think I'm going to go higher than that!" the small blonde gave a gasp as the prison holding her in place quickly released her, a bull strength attack shoving the chef away as a fierce fist collided, though not with its target.

"You shall not harm h-"

"Heaven slaying dragon fist!"

"TAYLOR SWIFT!"

As Teruteru soared through the air, Kazuki let out a quiet grunt as Chiaki's fist collided with the game developer, her eyes widening slightly as she fell to the ground, unconscious. As fast as her feet could take her, Hiyoko was hovering over the groaning green haired boy.

"Ah, Kazuki! Are you okay!?" she asked, only for the boy to close his eyes. "No, don't die!"

* * *

"Hey, I think she's waking up!"

"Ibuki's getting a reaction from Kazuki as well!"

"Ibuki, stop poking him, he's had enough as it is."

If there was one way that Kazuki wanted to wake up, being with a cute girl would probably be a great contender for that spot. Being continuously poked by that girl in the cheek while having her blubber some sort of childish language was a completely different thing.

"Miss Mioda, please stop doing that…" pushing away the invading digit was a hard task, but the boy persevered. A quick glance around the hospital room, the heavy scent of disinfectant filling his nostrils, showed Mahiru, Sonia, Mikan and Ibuki all gathered over him and the bed beside him, Chiaki blearily rubbing her eyes. The Super High School Level nurse was tending to all of the other classmates that had been forced into beds of their own alongside Chisa, Hiyoko resting her head upon the side of Chiaki's bed.

"Ah, Kazuki's so cute like this! Do you want to be Ibuki's little brother? I'll make sure to give you a nice bed and make sure you have a lot's of treats!" the musician suggested, her face in the game developer's personal bubble in seconds before the photographer pulled her away.

"Ibuki, don't go treating him like a dog!" Mahiru scolded before turning to the boy with a small smile, one happily returned. "It's great to see you up. You've been out of it for a while now. I guess we never did properly thank you and Chiaki for setting this all up for us."

"It's nothing major, really. It's always nice to see people come together." The boy dismissed, a sigh escaping as he sank back down into the pillow. Being one of the most well-funded academies in all of japan, it would only make sense that there medical facilities would be of only the highest quality, especially if they had students based around medical talents. In fact, Kazuki couldn't remember ever seeing a nurse in Hope's Peak.

"And Chiaki, that punch was amazing!" Ibuki squealed, pinching the gamer's cheeks despite the small protests. "It was so cool! You were all like, 'super heaven dragony fist!' and then Kazuki was flying!"

That made the pink haired girl instantly fly up, turning to Kazuki with a small frown.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was trying to hit Teruteru…" his legs were a little weak and he would be lying if he didn't say that his chin didn't feel like it was on fire, but it wouldn't stop the green haired boy from gradually moving over to the other bed and resting his hand on Chiaki's.

"It's fine. Where did you learn a move like that in the first place though?" he asked, a smile growing upon the gamer's face.

"The heaven slaying dragon fist… that attack is special to me…" she explained with closed eyes.

"It's a special attack?" the teacher parroted, a nod coming from the pink haired girl.

"A long time ago, there was a gangster named Willy, a dangerous guy that was willing to open fire on all that annoyed him without a single regret." Chiaki explained, a small gasp coming from Mikan.

"There really is someone like that!?"

"Yes. He not only kidnapped a woman, he pumped her full of lead just for fun and killed her."

"So those things, which also happen in my country, occur here too…" the Super High School Level princess muttered, earning a confused look from Mahiru.

"They do?"

"That attack was the special move I used to defeat Willy." Chiaki concluded, Ibuki clasping her hand together with an amazed glow.

"That's absolutely amazing Chiaki!" the musician declared, though Kazuki had to decide between a bemused sigh and a small chuckle, eventually coming out with a mix of both.

"Miss Nanami, I think you should tell them the truth." The grey eyed boy remarked, the laughing increasing at the positively adorable way her cheeks puffed out when Sonia tilted her head.

"Chiaki, do you not have a past like that?" she asked, Chiaki shaking her head.

"It wasn't my past. You don't know it? It's the side scrolling beat-em-up masterpiece, Double Dragon 2!" she clarified, all of the girls listening gasping in surprise.

"Ah, you know it!?" Mahiru excited asked, Kazuki holding on tightly as Chiaki's head turned slightly.

"Of course! It's a total masterpiece. The first game is a classic naturally, but I really like the rebalanced smoother gameplay of the second title! It had a great influence on all of the later games and…" though he wouldn't admit it out loud, Kazuki was in heaven. Surrounded by soon to be friends, listening to the excited chatter of Chiaki as she continued on about her favourite mechanics of the game; there was nowhere he would rather be. Of course, the fact that they were in an infirmary did somewhat dampen the mood, especially considering that the entire class had been drugged and the one who had done it was right beside him, but that wasn't enough to get him down.

He wondered what sort of antics Hinata would be getting himself involved in. the brown haired boy didn't really seem as if he was much of a trouble maker and from the way he spoke when they met, he looked to be merely an average guy trying to make his way in the world, prove himself to be just as talented as the rest of the main building.

And there was really nothing stopping him. Not everyone found their greatest talent at a young age and the reserve course students did have their ways of getting transferred, the biggest barrier was just the confidence levels within him. Hopefully, by having him come up with some game ideas, he could be inspired to try his hand at something new and maybe get a title of his own! Hinata Hajime, Super High School Level… concept artist? Storyboard creator? Who knows at this point?

'Perhaps this should become a story.' Kazuki mentally commented, unaware of the small circles he had begun to rub on the back of the girl's hand. 'A boy and a girl trying to survive school life when everyone's incredibly… interesting. I suppose it would be sorta like… a game of life.'

* * *

"Okay then everybody, let's start today off with cheer as well!" Chisa happily exclaimed as she slammed her hands down on the table in front of her, a gorgeous grin plastered onto her visage.

"Dear god, how are you so energetic?" Souda half moaned, struggling to even lift his head. Nearly the entire class was practically running on fumes and having school continue without break certainly wasn't try to help one single bit.

"It's because I'm an adult." The orange haired teacher proudly exclaimed. "It isn't exactly my first time having to deal with those sorts of things."

"Oh, I see. That would explain why I too am not exhausted either." Sonia declared, the Super High School Level mechanic turning a surprised eye onto the princess.

"Excuse me? Sonia, what does that mean?"

"All right then, let's start today's homeroom! I could take some volunteers for this, but I instead decided alone, based on my own prejudices!" Chisa exclaimed, a small sweat drop falling down Kazuki's face.

'Madam Yukizome, at least don't tell the class that you're choosing to do something with biases that should be a class-wide effort…'

"What are you going on about?" Nidai called from his place near the back of the room, a near unnoticeable sway to his posture.

"I'm glad you asked. For our class rep, I ask Miss Nanami to take the position!" the energetic announcement made the girl pause her game, lifting her head off of the wood to look around in confusion.

"Huh? I don't wanna. Make Kazuki do it instead." She dismissed, the sweat drop from Kazuki growing even further.

'Miss Nanami, at least try not to just shove the responsibility onto me…'

"Oh come one Chiaki, you should give everything a try!" the teacher pleaded, Sonia clapping her hands together.

"I believe that Chiaki would be perfect for the position!" she declared, Souda following with a raised fist.

"I absolutely agree with Sonia!"

"Sounds fine to me." Akane added, a powerful agreement also coming from the coach.

"You'll find no objections from me either." While Fuyuhiko didn't bother turning his head, a smirk rested upon his lips as he reclined, shoving his feet onto the desk.

"I do not object in the slightest, I agree!" Ibuki exuberantly cheered, Mahiru much more relaxed in her opinions.

"Same here I guess."

"Why not?" Hiyoko answered with a smug shrug, Teruteru having only one thing to say with his thumbs up.

"Nice punch!"

"I'm also in favour." Nagito announced with a causal hand motion, a far cry from Mikan's tear filled eyes.

"I'm okay with Chiaki…"

"I suppose that if it's what the world has chosen, then who am I to go against its will?" Gundham agreed in his gruff tones.

"I think you're suited to it too." Ryota concluded, turning around to flash the girl a smile. Her eyes drifted to the right, Kazuki offering a double thumbs up.

"You'll be amazing at it, I promise!" the game developer stated firmly.

"…Okay then."

* * *

 **And that's it for now. Next time, let's go talk to Hajime a bit more. I have plans for that kid, he'll go far. Also, english voices for Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony. They're a thing. Apparently, Ouma sounds like Bryce Papenbrook except he's not Bryce Papenbrook and Gonta still has that whole gentle giant thing going on.**


	5. 5- ready for reserves?

**Yo! This is where everything will change, don't know if it will work, but everything will change. the effects of such a change will be slow, but like a glacier, things will potentially be very devastating eventually. That's not what you were here for, was it? Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Time to shoot for the stars! Red, black, blue and white!_

 _Shirou: Death, despair, hospitals, hope..._

 _Kazuki: Battle a lance with a sword! Time to fight with four!_

 _Shirou: And you should... Um, not get punched?_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

Hajime Hinata had always dreamt of entering Hope's Peak academy's main school. It was to be secure for your future, to have it stated to the world that the talent you hold is unmatched by anyone else, that you were in a completely different league to all those who would share your talent. To step into that main building was to take one step into a bright and happy future where you would be left wanting for nothing as powerful figures vied to have a person who went into Hope's Peak come into their companies.

It was why he was sat staring out of the reserve course's window, a plain piece of bread held next to a half empty orange juice carton.

"Hey."

He had no talent that was worthy enough to get him in with all of those esteemed students. The only thing he had was parents that were willing to pay the extortionate fees in order to get him a better chance at entering the main school. You would still have to scouted just like any other person who went there, but when you were so close to the school itself, it would be a lot easier to get yourself noticed.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

Raising his head from the dream daze, Hajime gave a questioning look to the blonde girl that disrupted him from his musings, a slightly sour look upon her visage.

"You're always gazing at the Main course building." She scoffed, making the brown haired boy sit straight.

"Yeah, so what?"

"I'll bet you have no friends!" the sheer exuberance and confidence that oozed from her figure sat upon one of the desks with swinging legs was enough to bring a small frown to Hajime's face. "Well, it's not like I do either."

"Well, yeah, not if that's the way you go around greeting people." Hajime answered with a small sweatdrop. When the class had first assembled, they naturally introduced themselves to each other, but that girl's had been more than a little… unique.

" _Listen up! I don't know why I've been put in this place with trash like you, but… Well, I guess it's nice to meet you."_

"I was serious though!" the girl declared with a raised head and a hand to her chest. "I mean, I'm a Super High School Level little sister after all!"

"Huh?" it was something rather odd to boast about, but whatever kept her happy he guessed.

"You must have heard of us. The organised crime group with over thirty thousand members, the Kuzuryuu Gang!" the blonde girl proudly announced with a grin. Hajime gave a small shiver in his seat, placing down the bread.

"Kuzuryuu…? No, you can't mean…" he breathed to the girl's nod.

"Of course, that's right! The Kuzuryuu Gang is my family and my brother is heir apparent – the Super High School Level Yakuza!" She boasted. "And with an incredible big brother like that, it means that I am a Super High School Level little sister! See? Makes perfect sense, right?" there was no way the boy could stop the small sweat drop that rolled down his face as he answered.

"But, considering that you've come to the reserve course, you weren't scouted for the main course, huh?" the black suited boy remarked, the quickly red girl spitting back,

"That doesn't mean I have no talent yet! Maybe you've given up already."

"I..." with a single green eye baring into him, a veil of darkness fell over the brown haired boy. "I can still…"

"I'm not like them you know. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get into the main course!" the Kuzuryuu promised, a fierce smirk taking over her features. "I'll bet that if someone in the main course were to quit, I could fill their open space! Lice a certain girl with freckles that I hate, maybe…"

A harsh hand upon the wood in front of Hajime made them pause in their tracks, long black hair framing a pale face that turned to the girl.

"Natsumi… you better not do anything weird, okay?" the girl hissed, her own glare matching the gang member's.

"Hey, it's Sato… Long-time no see." She said, her sly tone dripping in sugared venom. "What is it? Did you just so happen to be eavesdropping on us?"

"Just answer my question!" the now named Sato spat back. "You're not plotting anything strange again, are you?"

"Excuse me? What do you mean by something strange?" the blonde questioned, teeth grinding within the purple eyed girl's mouth as Hajime hesitantly interrupted.

"Um, do you two… know each other?" he asked, Natsumi turning away.

"Not really, we just happened to be in the same photography club at our last school." She answered dismissively.

"If you do anything to Mahiru, I'll never let you get away with it!" Sato declared with flames in her eyes, Hajime's opening as he flashed back to a particular time he had a conversation with Kazuki, Chiaki beating the developer at his own game like usual.

" _What are the people like in the main course anyway?"_

" _Well, there's a whole bunch of strange people, but they're all really nice when you meet them properly… "_

"… _Then there's Mahiru, who is the Super High School Level photographer. She makes some really great shots, but there are a few that are kind of embarrassing… I probably shouldn't have told you, please don't buy any weird pictures off of her!"_

"Don't you just strut up to me and start spewing nonsense!"

"I'm telling you to drop your weird schemes!"

* * *

"Um, Mahiru, are you sure we should be here?" Kazuki asked, mere millimetres away from cowering behind the redhead. He had wanted to talk to Hajime during the lunch break and apparently, he shared a class with someone close to Mahiru, so the photographer had invited him along with her.

"Don't worry about it. I've done this before and the staff usually don't say anything about it." She replied with a sigh at the odd gazes that dug into them. "I think the teachers actively encourage it, like we're lowering ourselves by just talking to the reserve course."

"Oh, I see… That's still way too strange for me." Letting out a light 'oomph!' as he collided with the photographer's frozen back, Kazuki let out a call as the girl quickly began pushing through the gathered students at a doorway, a glimpse up making him sigh. Of course it would be the one that they wanted.

"Don't get so familiar with me, you plain Jane!"

"Ah, excuse me, let me through please!" Mahiru requested as she swam through the veritable sea of faces, the game developer struggling to keep sight of her.

"You can't do anything without hiding behind your parents!" Sato hissed at Natsumi, the blonde girl scoffing as Mahiru grabbed a hold of the black haired girl's shoulder.

"Please, stop this!" she begged, Kazuki giving a pant as he approached the still seated Hajime.

"Mr. Hinata, what's going on?" he enquired, the brown haired boy giving a small shrug.

"Long time, no see, Koizumi." Natsumi greeted, the strained artificial smile telling far more than the lies it wanted to. "What does a girl from the main course and her boyfriend want here?"

"Ah, apologies Miss, but I'm not her girlfriend." Kazuki cheerfully replied, though flinched back at the twin sharp looks that came his way.

"I just…" but there was no time for her to answer as the brother to the Yakuza heir continued her verbal assault.

"Did you come here to mock those talentless losers?" she wondered aloud, Kazuki stepping forward with a frown, fully aware of the sudden stares that had been pointed in their direction from everywhere.

"Hey, Mahiru isn't like that! She came here to simply talk with her friend, is that so much to ask!?" the game developer exclaimed, his finger pointed directly towards the… laughing? Girl.

"Oh, please I'm just messing with you!" the blonde announced. "But to think that you need your boyfriend to answer for you! Just like a little puppy yelping for its master. You have him well trained Koizumi!"

"Your brother is in the same class as Mahiru!" Sato suddenly stated, though both she and Mahiru shied away at the near dead gaze of their opponent.

"Yeah? And? Gonna tattle on me?" she hissed, lips mere seconds away from the girls' faces. "Just try it, I'll kill you." Kazuki, with courage screwed to the sticking point, stepped in front of the darkened Natsumi without regard to Hajime's whispered orders, a foreign firmness over taking his body.

"You're Natsumi Kuzuryuu, right? The brother of Fuyuhiko?" he pleasantly asked, the blonde raising an eyebrow at the same sweetness that matched her own. "I see why he's so good at what he does. He keeps all of the good aspects of being a yakuza while leaving you with the remains." There was no stopping her now, the fist flying into the game developer's face as the students stepped aside, the boy landing with a cry against the blackboard.

"You think just because you're playing white knight here, you can just speak like that to me!?" Natsumi roared, her glare turning to the other two. "And you Koizumi, you haven't changed a single bit. Still a shitty little goody two-shoes secretly looking down on everyone!"

"Are you truly so desperate to get into the main course that you'd pull down Mahiru and beat up her friends just to do it?" Asked Sato in pure incomprehension, the redhead burying her face into the black haired girl's shoulder as Natsumi smirked. "You're the absolute worst! If the main course didn't scout you, then it's because you have no talent! But you're just the kind of person that can't get that… You need to learn your place!"

"That's enough!" her fist paused an inch away from the cowering Koizumi, Natsumi's confidence all but forgotten at the sight of the vulnerable girl. quick as a flash, the Super High School Level photographer grabbed Sato's hand, leading her towards Kazuki's struggling body before fleeing the classroom in the stifling silence. With a sigh, Hajime sat back down.

Well, shit.

* * *

"I'm sorry for getting you hurt Kazuki!" Mahiru apologised as she led the two down the corridor. "But you went too far there Sato."

"I needed to tell her off," the reserve curse student defended, letting the boy rest a Crombie covered arm over her shoulders as he hobbled next to her. Colliding with a wall was not fun in the least. "Mahiru, you're the hope of the photography club."

"I'm just…" with steps slowing to a halt, Kazuki looked up to see Mahiru's shadowed eyes. "…Taking the pictures I want to."

"I know and I'm confident about one thing." Sato stated with a soft smile. Someday, your photos will spread around the globe."

"I can… see that happening very easily." Kazuki added weakly. "After all… even if you do take some embarrassing pictures every… now and again… they always are beautiful." Turning with a rose tinted face, a sudden realisation came to Mahiru's mind.

"Hey, it was my turn to make lunch today, right? I made us Hamburg steaks." Mahiru remarked. "How about you join us Kazuki? I'll call it payment for getting you into this mess."

"It would be a pleasure!" the boy responded with a thumbs up, only a slight tremble to his legs as Sato took the redhead's hands.

"I'm looking forward to it." Sato replied.

"I hoped they turned out okay…" Mahiru commented before the blush grew over freckled cheeks. "Ah, I only made enough for the two of us!"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want to intrude on your special meal sharing." The green haired boy dismissed, tapping his backpack. "I have my own food!"

Seeing the smile upon Kazuki's face, even after being punched into a solid brick wall, Mahiru couldn't help the smile that broker through her own face. That realisation…

It wasn't about the food.

* * *

"Well, it looks like you beat me again!" Hajime sighed as he held his towards the setting sun, the words 'game over' prominently displayed in red upon his own game girl. with puffed cheeks, Chiaki turned to the boy. "I guess they don't call you the Super High School Level gamer for nothing!"

"That's because you weren't focusing." Her simple reply chipped away at the fake smile upon his face; Hajime had never truly been very good at hiding his emotions.

"I'm just worrying about Kazuki, you know?" the boy stated, shuffling upon the park bench for a better position. "Apparently, he managed to get through a whole bunch of time with Mahiru before he ended up falling unconscious." They had fortunately managed to get through their joint meal having a pleasant time, but as soon as it was just the two of them, there was only a small amount of power left in his bones and he was now happily asleep with Mikan watching over him."

"He's a strong guy. You don't have to worry about him." Chiaki dismissed, Hajime turning at the seeming callousness of the gamer girl. You would think she'd have a bit more concern…

"You're taking this rather lightly for someone who just had their friend punched into a wall, silently suffering until he couldn't keep standing anymore." The reserve course student remarked with a chuckle, Chiaki's head tilting at the thought.

"No… It's just that he'll make it through this." The pink haired girl clarified. "He seems to never give up, always picking continue instead of long as he has HP, he'll get back and continue at it until it's all depleted."

"That's not exactly healthy though…" Hajime answered, a questioning sound coming from the boy at Chiaki's confusion.

"But doesn't sleeping in a bed restore your entire HP?" he knew his mouth was moving, so why weren't any goddamn words coming out? Fortunately, he was saved the trouble as Chiaki started giggling. "I'm just joking. It usually only restores about half HP."

"Games… If you didn't have your talent for them, what would you have done? Would you still have fun playing them?" the boy wondered aloud as the pink haired girl rested the console upon her lap.

"If I had no talent?" she parroted in her usual whisper, the boy turning away with a sigh.

"Yeah. If you always lost for example, no matter how hard you played." The boy reasoned. "Or if they were too hard for you to understand. I wondered if you would still enjoy playing the games."

"I think that would have fun in its own way." Chiaki answered after a low hum and the starting music echoed from her speakers. "After all, I love games."

"Even if there were someone else with a talent for games that you could never beat?" hajime continued, the angle of the sun letting shadows cover his eyes.

"…There's more to life than just talent." Hajime quickly returned his head to look at the gamer girl as she spoke, a small sense of enthusiasm entering her voice. "That was something that Miss Yukizome told me but… Your life won't be interesting just because you have a talent. By getting involved with others and making memories, hope, which is more important than talent is born. It was only with Kazuki's help that I really saw what she meant by that."

Hajime realised at that moment just how content she was with that idea. Whether it be the gentle blush that painted her cheeks, the small smile that wasn't born from the game or that fact that she was happy to let her ship be sieged by enemy machines as she spoke, Chiaki looked the picture of happiness.

"It's why I like playing with you and Kazuki… I think."

"Right… Yeah, I feel the same way. Even if Kazuki can't be here to enjoy these games, we'll just have to play extra hard and tell him about what happened." Hajime declared, Chiaki perking up immediately.

"Okay then, let's keep going."

"Huh, this again? Let's play another game!" Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and if the flames that burned within Chiaki meant anything, Hell was particularly warm today.

"No. next, we're going to do co-op." she whispered, Hajime turning back to his console with a sweatdrop.

"O-okay then…"

'Even without a talent, you can have hope… This may not be that bad.'

* * *

It wasn't as if he was dying or anything, not from a single punch and a wall collision. Resting in the bed with nought to do apart from stare at the oh so pretty ceiling, Kazuki let a low groan escape him.

"They're saying it's a conspiracy or something, that they're trying to undermine Hope's Peak."

Why they would be having a conversation about the school's politics in the infirmary, he had no idea, but as the game developer turned, grey eyes widened at the sight.

"A car deliberately drove into her at high speed and it was only through the work of her sister she even managed to last this long." One of the men, doctors if the long jackets meant anything, stated, reading off of a clipboard in his hand. "Even with the technology of the Super High School Level mechanic and engineer as well as the various medically aligned students, they can only keep her alive rather than heal her. At some point, we're going to have to let her go."

"But who would do such a thing to a school girl?" the other man wondered. "They must have something serious against Hoe's Peak if they're willing to run over children to settle the score!"

"It wouldn't surprise me if they did. Sometimes, people can get jealous when they get rejected from their dream school." The first doctor sighed, Kazuki quickly shutting his eyes as the glance fell over his position. "Well, it's not like the people inside the school are peaceful all of the time either."

"Say, what was her name anyway? Apparently, she was a Super High School Level… it escapes me."

"Model." The first clarified. "Her name is Junko Enoshima, planned Super High School Level supermodel and…"

"She'll die soon."

* * *

 **It wasn't the food. it was friendship. Totally. Well, that's all for today folks! Wait... it isn't? Cool! How will the world react when there's no one plunging it into despair? Well, actually, the question is... If the mastermind isn't Junko Enoshima, who is...? We're not done yet, so sit tight and find out soon! Just not next chapter.**


	6. 6 - ready for tea?

**Something I forgot to mention last time, being forced into something hard really hurts. I was thrown into a wall, a radiator actually. about a week ago. Literally spun around until my feet weren't touching the floor and then thrown into a radiator. I'm small and light, okay!? I have a good diet! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Reach for the Peak of Perfection!_

 _Shirou: To the one's up above, you are truly never gone!_

 _Kazuki: I feel bad, but they deserve to have their family with them, not me..._

 _Shirou: ... I suppose I can understand..._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

Though his legs were still tender, Kazuki gently approached the other bed, various equipment strewn around her with beeps and ticks and whistles. Had she not been so unfortunate, she most likely would've been far in another class when it came to beauty, but now long locks of blonde and pink were stained crimson and black, delicate skin was now marred with a grotesque purple and there was a chance he may never see those eyes in real life. Though there was a faint sound of rhythmic breathing, there was no chance of that staying long if the damages reported upon the clipboard on the end of her death bed meant anything. He really wasn't meant to look at it so callously, but the game developer's hands were already moving.

"So she's had multiple bone fractures that enter her lungs and tear multiple blood vessels…" he whispered, gently placing it back in its place. "That means less blood is moving towards the right places… her heart will stop properly functioning due to being unable to respire and lead to a heart attack and the lack of respiration at the brain will have it fully shut down beyond just a coma."

Turning towards the door, Kazuki spoke with a bowed head, only a whisper. There was really no chance that the girl, Junko Enoshima, could actually hear, but there was no way the green haired boy was leaving without the proper respect.

"Though I cannot speak for whoever was cruel enough to justify attacking you, I'm sorry that you have to leave this world so early. I'm sure that you were a lovely person and maybe we could've been friends, a sempai and kouhai, when you properly came next year." The door was shut with a silent sound.

It made it easier to leave if he made it as if she was asleep.

* * *

 _setsuna ni ai no reimei o,_

 _douka kanjiru mama ni._

 _toukyou no asa wa nobori-hajimeru,_

 _haikei douka kippou o,_

 _negau sachi aru you ni._

 _inori wo, yagate kitaru,_

 _futashika na asu ni muka-a-tte…_

"Hey, Miss Nanami! Did you miss me?"

"You left the infirmary."

"Hehe, well it's not like I was in there for something super serious…"

With the end credits of Armourman Shinobi ringing out from the handheld held in the pink haired girl's hands, Kazuki sat down in his seat, the class just as rambunctious as ever. It would take a few more moments before Chiaki would take her eyes off of the screen, looking to the boy as he fidgeted with his fingers, the console hitting her desk before her question.

"What's up? You seem weird." A small chuckle escaped Kazuki at the question, a deep breath soon to follow.

"You truly are blunt sometimes Miss Nanami." He remarked, the girl cutely puffing out her cheeks. "But I'm still not exactly in the best of feelings. I apologise if I'm not as energetic as usual."

"It's fine. I can get started on my third run of Beat." The gamer answered, swapping the cartridge in the console as Kazuki raised an eyebrow.

"Only the third? I thought you played all of them multiple times and it's not the most recent of my games." The developer stated as he pulled off his coat, draping it over the back of his chair as Chiaki shrugged.

"I never got around to it." Except now, there's plenty of time. It seemed like Chisa wouldn't be coming too soon if the little note she placed on her desk was true, so they would maybe even have until the first class started before they actually had to work and for Chiaki, that was ample time to get a good chuck in.

"Hey, green guy."

Grey eyes turned up, if only a little bit, towards Hiyoko, standing with hands upon her hips. She was refusing to meet his eyes though the same irritation as usual emanated from her body.

"Oh, Miss Saionji. How can I help you?" Kazuki replied, hoping to dear lord that she didn't notice how incredibly forced that cheerfulness was. With a scoff, Hiyoko finally turned to him, frowning as she slammed her hands upon the desk.

"Look, even though you tried to feel me up that time like a sick pervert, you… you did stop the sick pervert from trying to feel me up, so thanks, I guess." The Super High School Level traditional dancer declared. "You're not as weak and useless as I first thought."

"Oh, thank you Miss Sa- wait, did you just say not _as_ weak and useless?" the sweatdrop fell, though there was no remorse found in the kimono clad blonde as she raucously laughed.

"I mean, you still ended up getting sent flying by one punch from what big sis Mahiru said!" She reminded, a small cloud forming over the game developer's head. "I guess that's just Teruteru being weaker than the weak, makes sense with all of that fat though!" the sharp rap to the top of her head had her in tears however, Mahiru's unrepentant face appearing from behind the short girl's stature.

"Hiyoko, you can't just go around insulting him when he stopped Teruteru for you!" She scolded, her fist still resting upon the girl's head. "At least aim it towards the right person. I still can't believe he was willing to do that…"

"Can I just say, Kazuki had the same ero ero soup and was doing something to the lovely Hiyoko as well?" the chef interrupted, though the fist that came his way was just as fierce as Kazuki's push. "Oh, I just love it when you're so forceful!"

"Well I think there's a difference between cute cuddling and threatening to lick her in strange places!" the photographer yelled, only letting the red spread across her freckled face as she looked around at the entire class' looks, Hiyoko laughing like a madman.

"Ah, big sis Mahiru! You just called a boy cute!" she exclaimed. A small part of the game developer's mind was pondering just how it was possible for a girl to change from near tears to mocking her friend so quickly before it dismissed it as a lost cause. "I've never heard you say that!" the redhead was sputtering at that statement, Kazuki both resting his head to try and fall into blissful sleep and hide the red that also decorated his cheeks.

"Wh-where did you get that from!?" Mahiru asked. "I was just saying that all he did was cuddle with you Hiyoko!"

"No, you totally called it cute, so you thought that Kazuki was cute big sis Mahiru!" the blonde answered, a vicious grin upon her face. Just because Mahiru was her closest friend, it doesn't mean that she was free from being a target herself. "So, are you going to ask him out? Is big sis going to make him my big bro now?"

"H-hey, cut that out!" Kazuki was more than glad that this was happening. It made for a better environment than sharing a room with someone that was about to die when he could do absolutely nothing to stop it. Watching as the close friends started messing about, the rest of the class falling into easy banter and jokes as Chiaki continued on with her run through of his game, the boy lifted his after careful checks to ensure that there wasn't a hint of red any more on his person. A swift movement had plastic meeting the desk, his fingers almost immediately flashing over the keys as he began his work. Swap wasn't going to complete itself after all.

* * *

"Um, Lady Nevermind, can I ask why you chose to invite me to this?" He had to admit, though the boy had never really been into tea and certainly not that of across the seas, the cup held in his hand had a most wonderful aroma wafting up, a small sip letting Kazuki revel in rich yet not too bitter flavours, a certain softness brought about by the careful addition of milk. Sat upon the other side of a lavishly decorated table, Sonia smiled at the boy, a cup of her own in her grasp.

"Why, after what you and Chiaki did for our class, I merely thought that it would be nice to do something for you in return. I had also invited Chiaki to join us, but she declined, though didn't choose to give a reason…" the Super High School Level princess remarked, looking over her shoulder with a forlorn visage.

"Ah, that's my fault actually." The boy declared with a sorrowful smile. "I had made a new part of my game and I asked her personally to test it out in order to find any bugs or glitches available, as well as simply see if it was actually any fun to play. Knowing her, I don't believe that she'll be coming out any time soon though…"

"Oh, I see, that is unfortunate. But that does bring me on to my next question quite well." The princess said with a clap of her hands, a tender smile replacing the small amount of depression. "Tell me, what is it like to create a video game? I'm afraid that I rarely found the time to enjoy such things when I was at home, so I'm not as well versed in them."

"Oh, that's really easy, as long as we don't go into the technical stuff…" it felt rather odd to have a laptop sitting on top of such a pretty pink table cloth, but the way that Sonia's eyes seemed to light up when she saw the character on the screen. "Well, it's a whole combination of different skills that work together in order to provide a certain experience. While there are certain cases where things like the story and graphics are made lesser, either on purpose or because they really aren't necessary, it is mostly about programming a base for the game to work off of and then adding in things like the art and music to complete the experience."

"So you do this all yourself? It looks amazing." Sonia praised, messing about with the controls even when she had no idea what to actually do. Leaping about with the powers of the great ancient lumix, granted to few girls to allow them the power of light in order to strengthen their body, the pink dressed girl leapt forth with an axe kick, the arc forming a rainbow as the monster beneath exploded into dust.

" _ **Arc en ciel! Light always wins, right?"**_

"I try to do as much as possible myself, but there are times when I can't do everything, so I sometimes have my friends assist with things like voice acting." Kazuki said, Sonia nodding slowly as she continued to make her character do all sorts of acrobatic wonders, leaving a trail of light as she went around the stage. "I was thinking about seeing if any of our other class mates would be able to add a part in whenever they could, maybe get Ibuki to make some music. She's the Super High School Level light music club member, right?"

With a small chuckle escaping her, the blonde princess turned away, a small amount of confusion in Kazuki's eyes. "Um… Maybe you should hold back on that… From what you've shown of your games, I don't believe that your games are suitable for her music tastes."

"What do you mean?" he asked with a tilt of his head. "I use pop quite a lot, so it shouldn't be too odd… How about we speak about you then? What is it like in your country?"

"Novoselic is a small country within Europe, though we have managed to keep a hold of our independence over the years. Though governed by an absolute monarchy even with all of the countries that have moved onto diplomacy for their ruling bodies, the people don't seem to wish for the same in Novoselic, instead happy to keep their faith in us." The way the princess spoke said volumes for her patriotic pride, a twinkle to her eyes that wasn't present even with his game.

"People often look down upon us for our odd traditions, but they merely have grown up on different ways! We may be strict when it comes to punctuality and enjoy eating foods that others may not have even heard of, but does that necessarily makes us any weaker? No! In fact, anime is a well enjoyed aspect in our culture, so we're not that different!"

"I see. You really do love your country, don't you?" Kazuki commented with a smile around the rim of his cup, no hesitation as he took a second biscuit from the tray. It was fairly easy to ignore the part of him that was yelling that the number of treats available was because Chiaki was meant to be there, the vast majority of his brain reminding him that Sonia was clearly making no objections and those biscuits were _pretty delicious_.

Ahem.

"Naturally. As the princess of Novoselic, I am a beacon to my people, a sign of our country's strength. Can I help it if I wish to return the faith they place in me?" the princess quipped. "I do enjoy the culture of Japan, but Novoselic is just as vibrant even without the size this country has." They were interrupted by the sudden sound of a ringing tone, Kazuki giving an apologetic smile as he flipped open the small device.

"Hello? What's up?"

" _Kazuki? You need to the entrance of Hope's Peak! I need to speak with you immediately!"_ the green haired boy had to flinch back at the deep scream that echoed down the line before a sigh escaped him.

"Akamine? Please don't tell me that you've managed to get yourself into more trouble?" the boy deadpanned, a look of surprise overtaking Sonia. "I asked you to voice a couple of lines for me, so… you got arrested for almost assaulting a lady? Disturbing public peace?"

" _N-no, don't g-go making accusations like t-that!"_ The other side spluttered, eventually regaining its prior sense of urgency after a few more unintelligible moments. _"It's that writer girl you met, the one called…"_

"Oh, you mean Miss Fukawa? What's up with her?" the Super High School Level game developer perked up for a second before briefly losing that cheer as he thought about who exactly it was he was talking to. Akamine Reo had a tendency to… overact at times, which was brilliant when Kazuki had him behind the mic; so many well-loved personalities had been born from his voice, but when he was simply trying to survive in the public domains… "Did you try to go out with her?"

" _What!? No! Just get down to the entrance as fast as you can! We would enter, but there're these stupid guards that won't let us in!"_ Akamine roared and before the grey eyed boy could even provide an answer, the line rang dead.

"Well, I guess I have something I need to do, I'm sorry Sonia for leaving like this." Kazuki said, Sonia waving off his concerns.

"It was enjoyable while it lasted, even if it didn't go to plan." The princess replied. "It may not be to the same level as the intricate work you did with Chiaki, but I hope it was enough. From the sounds of your call, apparently you… have a friend to deal with?"

With a small thumbs up, Kazuki quickly gathered his things with a sigh; if this went down well, maybe he could check in with Chiaki, see what she had been getting up to rather than answering Sonia's invitation. He had only just made it out of the door to the cafeteria where the princess had somehow gotten permission to set up the ornate display until the potential consequences hit him.

"This is between Akamine and Miss Fukawa as well as the guards to the school." He mused aloud, looking to the clock. It wasn't too far through the day, so if any big issues were to happen, there was still a fair chance for people to notice, both inside the school and out. "Maybe I should take another biscuit, for good luck."

* * *

Her steps were practiced as she let the man lead her towards the infirmary, eyes occasionally darting back and forth with a near unnoticeable movement. There was very little chance for her to be attacked, but that was exactly what she thought about Junko and naturally, when she wasn't there, it occurred. Taking a step into the room, the doctors giving their polite and distant apologies before they closed the room off. They had sectioned it off temporarily, any ill students redirected into an unused classroom, meaning that for now, it was just her and Junko.

She looked like an angel, if tarnished, under the cold light. With only the rhythmic beeps of the heart monitor, it was almost as if all that made Junko Enoshima who she was ha been blown off into the breeze, leaving only the husk of beauty left behind.

"They wanted to keep her here, show that they were willing to take responsibility for the act." She muttered under her breath before giving a scoff. It wasn't as if anyone would overhear her or anything, but it never hurt to be cautious. "Hope's Peak merely wish to keep their reputation untarnished. They do not truly wish to save her life, or at least, they aren't putting all they have towards it."

It was obvious that the machinery provided was only meant to sustain her for a small period. The most likely idea is that they told no one of what was actually going on and that the medically inclined students were merely given a vague reason as to why they would have to make the work, perhaps told that it was a hypothetical situation. She wondered what was going to happen now, now that the key element to the plot now lay moments away from death. Truly, there was only one thing she could do.

"You can at least rest feeling the despair of dying in such a simple way, with none of your plans realised."

The poison was silent, doing its job swiftly.

* * *

 **Yeah... So, what do you think will evolve from this? I'm trying to get KAzuki to have as many interactions with the 77th class and so far, I've done Mahiru, Chiaki, Sonia, Souda and Gundham. Oh, and Hajime, but he's not 77th, so who gives one about him? Seriously though, there's something I want to eventually implement, so please keep reading.**


	7. 7 - ready for reveals?

**Hello there! So, I introduced this person in the first chapter by name only, so now he's making his big debut! I hope I also did Touko Fukawa justice... Things are changing, but how will this go down? Anyway, here we go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: One, two, three, four! What do you do when servants come knocking at your door?  
_

 _Shirou: Keep an eye out, otherwise this game of life will becoming a killing game!_

 _Kazuki: Everyone enjoys a good murder mystery though!_

 _Shirou: Not when they're a part of it!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

They had met one day as they walked down the street. Well, met was a bit of an exaggeration, more like they accidently collided and Touko Fukawa ran away hissing. She had left a few papers however in her mad dash to escape, so naturally, Kazuki had attempted to follow and return her lost goods. He had at first accidently gotten a glimpse of the manuscript in his hand, which led to further investigation until eventually, he was following at the slowest pace he could while still keeping the girl in sight, eyes locked onto the story in front of him. A few exchanged words filled with at least several apologies to a constantly assuming Touko would quickly grow into a working partnership, then a budding friendship, though sometimes the girl was loathe to call it as such.

She was messing with the two long purple braids that fell down her back rather than fidgeting with the incredibly long skirt she wore as well, or the red tie that went with the rest of the dark school uniform. Beside her, a grand elderly man ground yellow teeth. He was rotund, though the suit he wore still gave him a bit of a handsome look that didn't naturally come with balding and glasses.

"Ah, Kazuki, amazing timing!" the man cheered, Kazuki giving a small sigh as he walked towards the odd pair. "This man here, he won't let us in to see you, even when we proved that we were friends of you!"

"Akamine, I told you that there has to be a Super High School Level student to let you in before you can enter Hope's Peak, I specifically remember writing it down so you couldn't forget it." Kazuki deadpanned, turning to Touko with a bit more enthusiasm. "Miss Fukawa, is that about what I think it is?"

"Y-yeah, it's done…" the writer declared, handing out a thick wad of papers that the boy took with a small smile, Touko pulling back her hands with haste. "It's probably not the best thing I've done, but here…"

"Well… it looks really good to me." Kazuki answered, his eyes firmly glued to the pages as he flicked through. He hadn't exactly had any… good luck, when it came to romance, but Touko had proven herself to be excellent at it, even enough to be considered a Super High School Level writer for when the school were debating who would be selected for the next year. In response, Touko slightly flinched, eyes flicking back and forth as she continued to fidget. "And… Where did you keep this hidden?"

"W-what are you saying!?" she hissed. "Don't question it! Reo wanted to say something, anyway."

"Ah yes! Of course…" Akamine exclaimed, bouncing a fist off of a shining head. "I wanted to talk to you Kazuki. You know how I was doing that part in 'Yoshitsune and the thousand cherry blossoms'? Well, That's suddenly been pushed up and I don't think I could do all of those lines for you."

"W-What!? But you've already recorded half of them!" the Super High School level game developer cried, hands to his mouth. "You can't just stop now! I'll just wait until after you've finished the play!" a quick slap to the top of his head had the boy crying out once more, Akamine tutting.

"You do that and you aren't going to get it all done for the deadline you set yourself and we can't be having that, can we?" the man replied. "Get some new blood in, I'm sure someone can be dramatic enough to fill these big boots!"

'The thing is, I don't whether he would be too dramatic or not…' the boy mentally deadpanned, a small frown poking its way onto Akamine's face.

"You alright there Kazuki?" the man questioned in concern. "If it really bothers you that much, then I'm pretty sure I can bring find some time between traveling…"

"No, no, don't do that! You need to use that time to rest and enjoy yourse-!" Kazuki immediately began to complain, only to be blocked by a hand.

"If it really bothers you that I can't do the lines, then the only answer would be to do the lines, understand?" Akamine stated slowly, ruffling the boy's hair. "Besides, consider it payback for all the times you helped this old man out."

"he wouldn't have had to if you weren't so lecherous… an absolute monster…" Touko muttered under her breath, Akamine turning to the girl with spittle near flying out of his mouth.

"Hey, don't say things like that! I'm absolutely cultured!" he roared, pulling an incredibly odd extravagant pose as the guard backed away, the sweat drop falling down Kazuki's face without control. "After all, only the most mature and expeeeerienced actors can work both within the high end gaming industry and the kabuki entertainment to high acclaim!"

"You say that, but that still doesn't make you any less of a skirt chaser…" Kazuki sighed, throwing off the hand on his head with a dismissive laziness. "Maybe if you at least aimed around your age group, you could have a better chance."

"I don't know what you're saying, I'm doing absolutely fine!" the man objected. "Sure, the rejections are a little stronger than they need to be sometimes, but there have been just as many acceptations."

"And where are they now?"

"…Shut up Kazuki." Throwing his arm around Touko, much to her distain, the man gave a cheery wave as he turned about, beginning to walk as he spoke.

"Well then, got to make sure this missy gets herself back home! She ended up lying about being ill so she could stay away from the school, finish writing your stuff, you know?" he remarked with a small wink.

"I d-d-did not! Don't say those sorts of things!"

Kazuki couldn't help the smile as he watched the backs of the bickering two. With a biscuit in hand, happily chomping away as he turned back, the boy began to hum a small tune. When he wasn't dealing with the aftermath of his antics, Akamine was a swell man and Touko was always so reliable, even if she didn't like his compliments and thought she was ugly. He couldn't wish for better working partners and friends.

He had managed to make it halfway through the small biscuit before it paused in his hands, falling lifelessly out of twitching hands. It was most likely his imagination weaving a distraught soundtrack, but for a moment, the boy could've sworn he heard anguished wails fill the air. He rapidly took in the scene before him, stepped back when an inch of red nipped at the front of his shoes, only realising after the first students came running in that he was screaming. Black hair draped over their face, now tinged at the tips with the same liquid that threatened to soil his shoes.

Sato had died.

* * *

Naturally, the police had been called and investigations had started, Kazuki quickly questioned and released when the guard supplied his testimony for the boy's alibi. His immediate response was to rush over to his classroom, the entire class looking at him strangely as Chisa walked over, hands on her hips and a firm frown upon her face.

"And just where have you been young man!?" she inquired. "We thought that something serious had happened to you!"

"You alright dude? We thought you were ill or something." Souda answered, the mechanic spinning a screw around his fingers with ease, though the soft movements paused as Kazuki pushed past the teacher, collapsing to his knees in front of Mahiru's desk as he looked up to the Super High School Level photographer.

"Um, Kazuki? Are you crying?" Mahiru asked, confusion plaguing her face.

"Sato… she's dead, looks like… it looks like a murder. I'm sorry…"

Silence. It was enough to swallow a person whole. The redhead's face had been frozen in the same confusion, a blanket of shock eventually taking over the students.

"Wait, what!? Someone committed murder!?" Nekomaru roared, bolts flying from his eyes. "Impossible! Who would decide to do that!?"

"Murder? I don't recall the name, do they go to this school?" Fuyuhiko asked, a small second of intense surprise passing through the Super High School Level game developer until the blonde's appearance entered his eyes. He was the Super High School yakuza, of course he wouldn't be fazed by murder. His family must've fallen upon that tactic multiple times, probably had to hide the evidence and all, which would mean he would had to have seen a body being mishandled…

"Sato was in the reserve course." Kazuki answered, his whisper barely audible as he rested his head against the wood of Mahiru's desk, the girl still having not moved an inch. "I had met her through Mahiru and she was a lovely girl; to see her dead body…"

"That must've been horrible…" Sonia commented, hand held to her mouth as she looked down to the floor. "To see a friend killed in cold blood... I had hoped I would never hear of it outside of my own country."

"It is a sign, a sign of grave times to come. We must prepare for the turbulent times that come ahead, lest they consume us in a blazing light that speaks of the apocalypse." Gundham added, pulling his scarf higher as he spoke, yet the words came just as seriously and clear as they would normally. It would take Akane's slap to get him to hiss in pain, a frown across the Super high School Level gymnast's visage.

"Dude, take things seriously for once!" she scolded. "Some girl's just died, at least drop the act for a small bit!"

"Wait, so there's a murderer still on the grounds?" Ryota realised with a tremble, another heavy layer forcing the air down on the students. "You mean there's a chance that the rest of us could be killed as well?"

"Now that's where I draw the line!" a sudden slam of hands against wood had the class turning towards their teacher, the sobs of Mikan pausing and Peko's hand that reached to her shinai dropping, if only by a small margin. "There's no way that a murderer will get into Hope's Peak! The police are probably dealing with him as we speak! However… I think we should get everyone home today. We'll go as a group, to make sure that everyone's safe."

The only two silent in the room were Chiaki and Nagito, though why the second was so quiet considering that Kazuki thought he would be preaching about how they should keep hope instead of being lost in fear, he didn't nor did he want to, know. Keeping close to the gamer, he was unable to draw his eyes off of the Super High School Level photographer, looking as if she had to be dragged along by Hiyoko, the fact that they had to pass the scene where the body had yet to be removed not exactly helping.

"Do you think she's going to be alright Miss Nanami?" Kazuki asked, Chiaki pulling herself from her game screen for a brief moment to gaze at the police ridden scene before rapidly returning to the virtual world.

"It's troubling." She replied in her usual sleepy whisper. "Like a murder mystery. The fact that the murder hasn't been found, so there's a chance there around anywhere here, the sense of anticipation, the lack of clues available… everything's super creepy. I think we should do something for Mahiru."

"You mean like last time?" Kazuki asked, a small nod coming from the gamer girl. "But, if it's just going to be her, then we should make it a little more special. She deserves that much considering that her best friend just died."

"Do you think it's another student?" Kazuki gave a double take, though it wasn't exactly the most shocking thing she could've said. The girl always was a little blunt with her words, but the thought…

"I hope not… but, I guess… I guess I can see it." It pained him dreadfully to admit it, but all it would take is a single thought back to the small conflict he had witnessed. "Sato, she didn't seem to like this girl, Natsumi Kuzuryuu-"

"Excuse me?" he was frozen solid at that point, slightly turning to see the raised eyebrow on Fuyuhiko. "Did you just say Natsumi Kuzuryuu?"

" _I see why he's so good at what he does. He keeps all of the good aspects of being a yakuza while leaving you with the remains."_

Oh god. Oh dear god. This was going to be… _fun_.

"Ah, yeah. I met her before." Kazuki answered, hoping the slight increase in his breathing wasn't noticeable. "She… punched me into a wall."

"The hell? ...Actually, no, scrap that. She's just the kind of girl who'd do that…" Fuyuhiko sighed, plunging his hands into the depths of his pockets as he walked, Peko sticking close by, ready to strike in a single moment's notice. "So, what'd you end up doing to piss her off?"

That was the golden question. 'Oh, I insulted her!' didn't exactly seem like it would get the game developer on his good side, but maybe he would understand if it was in defence of Mahiru. By now, the crowd had been thinned slightly, now missing Ibuki, Nekomaru, Ryota and Teruteru.

"Well, she was insulting Mahiru, so I may have said some bad things… I'm sorry Mr. Kuzuryuu." It was hard to walk while he was bowing, but by god, he would do because looking into the gang member's face at that moment was probably just as dangerous.

"Damnit, knock it off with the whole Mr. Kuzuryuu thing. Why the hell do you even call us Mr. and Miss anyway? We're your goddamn classmates." Fuyuhiko questioned, Kazuki righting himself before answering.

"Well, that's just what I've been raised to do, I suppose." The green haired boy explained. "It really started really long ago and I guess it stuck. People usually don't give it a second thought."

"Yeah? Well it's annoying, stop it." The gangster replied, giving a scoff his way. "Oh, and if you think that Natsumi's the one who did this, then you better come up with a better idea quickly. She's always threatening to kill, but she's not the girl to do that sort of thing, you hear?"

"Well, there's always the chance that the killer was a classmate, or just another reserve student. They were actually in the middle of the road back to the academy, so there's also a chance that it could even be one of the Super High School Level students, I think." Chiaki summarised, the blonde nodding.

"Which means that you can't go choosing her just because of some goddamn bad blood, okay?" he concluded, Kazuki giving a small sound of acceptance. But if it wasn't Natsumi, then who would be willing to do it? With Souda, Gundham, Akane and Sonia now safe, that left only them three, Peko, Nagito, Mahiru, Hiyoko and Mikan.

"This… this is the power of the Super High School Levels, the people with talent…" Nagito never stopped being creepy, but this time, Kazuki just had to ask,

"Excuse me Mr. Komaeda?"

"There are so many talents here at Hope's Peak academy, even ones as strange as luck." The white haired boy remarked, looking to his hands. "Swordswoman, yakuza, nurse, mechanic, pharmacist, blacksmith; every one of these could be applied in such wonderful ways to improve the world. But they can also be dangerous. They could cause so much despair in the world if the right people simply put their minds to it, so killing a simple talentless girl wouldn't be too hard…"

"HOW CAN YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT!?" it was rare to see Mahiru truly angry. There were occasions where she would get annoyed, maybe even upset, but a roar like that was practically unheard of when you were talking about the Photographer that just wanted to capture a smile. "SHE WASN'T TALENTLESS! SHE WAS JUST AS GOOD AS I WAS, BETTER!"

"And yet she hadn't been scouted by Hope's Peak for the main class. You were." Nagito answered, a small shiver flowing down Kazuki's back. "I guess that just proves that she wasn't good enough to be anything more than a stepping stone for the Super High School Levels like you lot."

"Mr. Komaeda… How could you say such a thing?" the tears were of injustice. Was this really how the Super High School Level luck really viewed things? "Her dead _corpse_ was in front of the school and you still speak as if she meant nothing? Even if you think that way, and may someone have mercy on your soul if you do, at least remain quiet about it! Show some sort of RESPECT! I CAN DO IT EVERY DAY, EVERY TIME I SPEAK TO SOMEONE, SO WHY CAN'T YOU DO THE SAME WHEN THEIR BEST FRIEND IF MOURNING THEIR DEATH!?"

"Kazuki, that's enough!" Chisa ordered, standing between the grey eyed boy and Nagito, who didn't look fazed in the slightest. "We're back at the dorms now; you should get to your room, all of you!"

Nagito left silently, his pleasant farewell far too sickly for Kazuki to even bare. Mahiru left in silence, followed closely by Hiyoko as the others dispersed save for Chiaki.

"Kazuki, I know that Nagito can be a little rude, but you'll have to bear with him for a small time, okay?" the teacher requested, hands on her knees as the game developer sighed.

"I know, it's just… he doesn't really give a multiplayer vibe; he seems so toxic." A grin entered his face, though it lacked the same warmth it did before. Hey Miss Nanami. Do you want to come over to my room for a bit?"

The pink haired girl let her sleepy smile return even in her slight sense of disappointment; so it would only be Fuyuhiko who would get their first name. Oh well. Sometimes, he could appear a little distant because of it, even when he didn't mean to.

"Okay."

* * *

 **So let's pause it right there! So we changed one little etail, but that means that there's no reason for Natsumi to die, right? Clearly she couldn't have done it, right? Well, it's not as if you have to wait long in order to find out the answer - It's already waiting for you!**


	8. 8 - ready for the consequences?

**And let's keep the ball rolling as we have a small bit of Fuyuhiko to sate you! We're going to introduce someone special at the end, but just who could it be? There's no time to talk, so let's begin! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: This holy grail war of yours is just like an RPG!_

 _Shirou: Well yours is more like a Game of 'Whodunnit?'!_

 _Kazuki: Well, if only we could pause to have more time..._

 _Shirou: Pause? I would be happy if we could just turn off the game!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

If there were going to be any Super High School Level students that entered the building that day, the populous certainly hadn't been expecting to see Fuyuhiko snooping around with Peko on his tail. Even with a sibling in the reserve course, the yakuza member never entered the grounds of the second building, yet the rush to get out of his way was a sign that things weren't exactly the way they were normally.

Hajime had been having a … fairly normal conversation with Natsumi, receiving a small scoff as he brought up Sato, the self-proclaimed Super High School Level little sister kicking up her feet onto the wood of his desk.

"I mean, it's not like she wasn't asking for it." The blonde declared casually, unperturbed by the disgust emanating from Hajime. "After all, she always was trying to fight above her punching weight. It was going to get her killed eventually."

"How can you say that?" well, the answer was obvious, but the question was flowing out of his mouth before the student even had a chance to stop it. "She didn't do anything bad! She just wanted to make sure that Mahiru was fine!"

The sudden darkness coming from Natsumi had him reeling back, blocked by the backrest of his seat. It wasn't exactly the first time, but it never hurt to be safe, especially with the deathly grip around cracking wood.

"Sato should've just stayed out of things she didn't belong in." the girl stated with grave seriousness. "She stuck her nose in and you saw where it got her. It was only the consequences of her actions, I can't be sad for her if she ended up reaching too far and lost because of it. They haven't found a cause, right? Maybe she just decided to end it all herself, learnt that she wasn't destined to be anything and she couldn't fight it."

The thought had been tickling the back of his mind, but there was just no way that Hajime could let the idea rest. After all, she had seemed to be so happy whenever she was around Mahiru, or at least that was what Kazuki had said, and there was no faking the kind of joy he described. But, that still left the question: if it was a murder rather than a suicide, then who…?

"No, that's wrong!" the boy declared, Natsumi flinching back at the sudden force that almost seemed to shatter the words that came from her lips. "Sato wouldn't do that! Sure, she did have her insecurities about being here, we all do, but that doesn't mean she was thinking of ending herself! She still had Mahiru and that was enough for her…" there were the words, the words that Kazuki had heard, but didn't exactly understand…

" _You know, there was also a term that Sato used to describe Mahiru, I think it was…"_

"After all, she had hope for the future! Sato still had her hope of the photography club and she was content with that! There was no way it could be a suicide!" any rebuttal was blocked by the sudden burst of breeze that came from the door, Natsumi turning to her sibling with a face of shock.

"Oi, I need to speak with you, now." Fuyuhiko ordered, a certain tone to his voice that had her moving immediately. The eyes slowly drifted off of Hajime, Peko only sending a brief nod before following after her… what was her relationship with the two Kuzuryuu members anyway? She always seemed to be around Fuyuhiko, so they were most likely friends, but the way the grey haired girl carried herself, it was… unnatural. Regardless, the brown haired boy returned to his 'task', nothing more than a scribble on a sheet.

He had found his free time lacking any sort of direction, the boy never really diving into any proper hobbies, so he found himself merely drawing anything that came to his mind, scrawling out any ideas that flowed in front of his eyes. It never really developed into anything serious, but after the small push he had received from the Game developer, he had decided to indulge himself. The scrap of paper was stuffed into his bag as the teacher walked in, the same drawl starting once more as the boy gave a sigh.

'I wonder what they're doing on the other side…'

* * *

"Hey, what did you want?" Natsumi moaned, the Super High School level yakuza finally releasing his iron grip once the last remnants of speech had escaped their ears. There was no introduction, the finger pressing directly into her chest.

"What happened to that girl, Sato?" Fuyuhiko hissed, eyes narrowed as the interrogation began. "I knew you two didn't get along and you can get reckless sometimes."

"I didn't have anything to do with it bro." Natsumi immediately denied, crossing her arms she placed her back upon brick. "Trust me, I wanted to, but I guess someone just beat me to it."

"Focus, this is serious!" the boy growled, receiving a raised eyebrow from his sister. "People know of your little spats and that means the eyes are turning upon us! We're having to do a ton of work that I don't want to do, so what do you fucking know!?"

That was a tone that Fuyuhiko rarely took with Natsumi, both girls present left swimming for words. If there had been anyone else, they would most likely take it as anger, but the remnants of his special kind of care was still there, just hidden within the pile of vitriol and frustration.

"I don't know anything. It's not like I was going to gun her down for no reason; if she ever stepped over the line, then things were sealed, but we hadn't reached that yet. It's not exactly like I'm being quiet about that." Natsumi explained, though the cough that came from behind Fuyuhiko had her turn a disinterested eye to Peko.

"You were having an argument about being in the reserve course, were you not?" the Super High School Level swordswoman asked, receiving a small nod. "Then would that not be perceived as her 'stepping over the line'? In fact, pushing your policy may only incriminate you further."

"Look, we'll talk about this later, but you know wat you have to do." Fuyuhiko sighed, taking a step back. "Nothing can incriminate us further, or we're going to get attention we don't want. If you want to be responsible for getting people on our tail believing we're getting lazy, then keep going."

She was left in silence, a brief kick to the wall leaving only dust upon her shoe. There was no hiding the tension between the two, but she had been honest to god clean of her death. Now, the family were going to have to deal with a whole bunch of upstarts trying to expand their influence and that meant wasted resources, time and effort.

"Well, there's no use sitting around here." The girl declared, the alleyway soon left empty save for the odd wood shavings that were blown about in the wind.

* * *

The room was filled by the soft snores of Hiyoko and the rhythmic clicking of a camera, the different images flashing past unresponsive eyes. They had all been the same as before, but the absence of one girl by her side as she viewed them made the digital pictures take on a new light.

With the knock on the door, Mahiru jumped to open it, met by the face of Kazuki as he readjusted his package. She hadn't been expecting anything, but it wasn't exactly as if she could deny him a small amount of attention.

"Um, I wanted to give you this. Could I possibly come in?" the Super High School Game developer requested, though a small frown pulled at his face at Mahiru's hesitation. "If you're busy, then I can l give you this and come back at a better time…"

"No, if you came here, then I can't say no!" the photographer interjected, Kazuki turning with a small smile as the door was pulled in. "Hiyoko is sleeping right now, but as long as we remain quiet, everything should be fine."

"You know, she almost looks like she won't rip my arm off when she's like this." Kazuki remarked, the traditional dancer's face lit by the soft glow of a lamp at her side, the package safe upon Mahiru's desk. "I mean, it's not like Miss Saionji's bad or anything, it's just that she can get a bit… snappy."

"You don't have to be so evasive about it Kazuki." Mahiru sighed, returning to hr seat and gently stroking the blonde mess that fell over her pillows. I know she can be a bit of a handful at times. It's almost as if she never grew up. I'm scared that if I didn't help her, she would still be wearing the exact same Kimono and never have a bath when she came to school…"

"Really?" after all, why wouldn't a dancer that would constantly be under the spotlight want to be in the best condition? "To never have a bath or change… that just seems odd."

"It's not that she wouldn't want to." Mahiru quickly clarified. "It's just that she can't do things like retie her obi, meaning that she can't redo it once she's taken it off, but she likes wearing the kimonos too much to risk having to wait an entire school term before she could put it on again. You can see why she's so childish at times."

"Well, it's nice to know that you're taking good care of her." Kazuki declared, watching the almost hypnotising movements of Mahiru's hand. he wasn't dumb, he knew that even having this conversation was most likely taking a lot of energy for the redhead, but there was no telling what would happen if she was to remain in her misery; getting her to speak of nice things meant that she could be able to move on, and on that note…"

"Oh, by the way, you should open your present!" the game developer declared, Mahiru pausing slightly as she moved away from the slumbering girl, a soft movement having the ribbon undone and the lid lifted to reveal –

"A cake?" the green haired boy gave an eager nod, letting out an awkward laugh as he explained.

"You seemed so down, so I asked Teruteru to make this and I'm ninety percent sure this one doesn't contain aphrodisiacs!" Kazuki proudly announced, though the held finger wilted under her look. "… Eighty four percent?"

"How did you get him to do this?" Mahiru asked, marvelling at the small character upon the top in icing. "I swear that he hates baking being classed as cooking, even if he is good at it." A small shiver passed down her back at the near dead look that came over grey eyes, the boy near trembling in his seat.

"I… made it an equal trade…" the boy muttered out, resting his head on his palms purely so he didn't collapse. "The references… all of the references…"

Unknown to the girl, the Super High School Level chef was sequestered within his own room, the computer being his only light as he squealed in delight.

"Oh, the sheer beauty, the mastery in the designs!" he moaned, fingers desperately reaching out to the girls upon the screen. "How am I meant to hold myself back when you're so exposed and willing!? Thank you Kazuki, for my dreams can now come true!"

"…Anyway, thank you. I think I needed something sweet today." Mahiru said, the chair moved next to Kazuki as she held out a plate. "I know it's your gift, but I can't leave you without any. I'll make sure Hiyoko gets a taste too."

They ate in silence, though not the same as before. There are some times where a lack of speech is a communication of its own after all. Soon, the plates would be discarded, Mahiru ready to get her photos sorted out when she heard a second set of snoring join, turning to see kAzuki flopping in his seat. With a soft giggle, she set about searching the cupboards, a spare blanket and pillow having the boy comfortable upon the ground looking over her handiwork, the redhead tutted; she would have to invade Hiyoko's room at this rate.

"Geez, it's like looking after two kids. At least Kazuki's trying his best though."

* * *

 _Once upon a time, there was a very special kingdom, where only the smartest and the bestest ruled over the weaklings. They had lived in peac for a super duper long time, the bestest making the world a really fun and advanced place. But the weaklings didn't like that they were weaklings while the smartest and the bestest were the best. A plan was quickly made, one that would let the weaklings rule over the smarter people._

 _First, they would kill some of the smartest. If they killed some of the smartest, then they would all be scared and do whatever it was that the weaklings wanted. Then, they would kill the smartest people's families and friends, so they would be able to blackmail them! As long as they did that then the smartest would eventually give up their places and the weaklings would rule the world!_

 _But there was one problem; the weaklings were under careful watch, so how could they hatch their master plan?_

" _We should do it anyway!"_

" _But what if we all get caught? Then we can't do it anymore."_

" _We should kill the watchers!"_

" _But what if they manage to get more? Then there would only be a small gap."_

" _We should get someone else to do it for us!"_

 _They liked that idea. They wouldn't be blamed when the killings were found and they could simply take the crown off of their bloody , they wonder now who they would get to do their dirty work. It couldn't be one of them, that would ruin the point and they obviously couldn't get one of the bestest to do it. So, they went outside of their kingdom for help, finding a saviour in a small kingdom._

" _Please help us!" they cried, begging like pitiful people on the floor. "we want to beat the bestest, but we can't do it ourselves!" and because they were wonderful graceful and super awesome person, they agreed to help the weaklings._

 _First went the super duper high school level supermodel who was actually really ugly, a misstep having a car sent into her body and suddenly, she looked so much better asleep on a hospital bed. Then went the useless super duper high school level fortune teller, unable to see the knife that entered his back until it was too late._

 _Then, they moved onto the friends, making sure to keep the number of deaths small so that even the bestest weren't able to tell there was a link. They began with the ex- super duper high school level paediatrician, a boring man named Egi Yuuno that somehow disappeared, who was an uncle of the super duper high school level nurse that changed his name. That was followed by the loss of the super duper high school photographer's friend Sato, which meant that the smartest and bestest started to blame the weakling known as Natsumi. The weaklings complained, as now one of theirs had died and another had the blame put on her, but they were simply doing what the weaklings were asking of them…_

"And that brings us to now!" they exclaimed, dropping themselves onto the bed with an ecstatic cheer. "Everything's been so much fun so far, it's amazing what some people will do with the right motivation!"

They hadn't even meant to start the car crash; they wanted to get the man out to see if they could use the same techniques as they used before, but the man failed to open the door and instead slammed a foot down on the gas, that girl. Junko, being in just the right place at the right time. Of course, that didn't mean the rest were all flukes; perfectly planned down to a tee!

"Well, that kid doctor guy was a bit of a mystery… I wonder what happened to him." They mused before waving their hands in front of their face. "They're probably in some horrible place, wondering why they disappeared. Oh never mind, who comes next?"

There were various pictures decorating the wall, paired with their appropriate file as with a small step, one was viciously ripped off of the pin keeping it up. The girl shown within was smiling; most likely taken as some sort of profile image for the school to use.

"Well, looks like you're going to be next, but what's going to happen?" they mused aloud, a coin flipping through the air before it was caught in a small hand, delicately held between two fingers in the light of the window. "So you fell on heads… well then, it must be done. We all have a part to play in this after all, and you've been assigned your role."

They didn't choose who would be given what fate. The destinies of their victims was entirely decided by luck and their appearance; had it been another picture that had drawn their fancy and the coin landed on tails, then maybe it would be another or the girl would remain alive, but that wasn't what happened and there was no way to change it.

"Now then, what should I do?" they pondered, a pencil tapping against their cheek. I could go straight for the kill like last time, or I could do the 'accident' like before. Ah, there are so many choices and only one life to do it to! I guess I pick… oh, we'll figure it out once we get there!"

Preparations had to be made and quickly if the show were to continue in good time.

* * *

 **Well, it's time to stop there! Who's gonna die next, i wonder? Well, I guess it's not going to be Yasuhiro... Will a queen of liars meet her greatest risk? Is the nurse going to take a lethal poison? Will a famous idol put on one last performance? Maybe even a certain gamer will use up her last life...**


	9. 9 - ready for talking?

**Welcome back! I seem to always keep doing these things in doubles, i have no idea why other than I have nothing better to do with my life. I think things are going to be changed a fair bit with what I plan to have happen very soon, so you don't have to wait in order to find out the major changes! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Down at the church, the moon rises over a new war Shirou!_

 _Shirou: And it's time to make the guitars wail! It's Miss Mioda, Ibuki!_

 _Kazuki: I've gotta say, I've heard much worse than what Miss Mioda has to show._

 _Shirou: Well, the worst has yet to come!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

"Hey, Hey, Kazuki! You make games right?"

"Well, naturally Miss Mioda. Why?"

"Don't you need some super awesome music to go with it!?"

Kazuki didn't know how to feel after learning that Ibuki had the potential to be quite… cuddly, at times. That wasn't to say that it was at all unwanted, but sometimes it was a bit embarrassing to have one of your classmates suddenly wrap her arms around your neck because you were 'just too cute for Ibuki to ignore!'

"I'm always looking for new tunes to add to my games. Is this you volunteering?" the green haired boy questioned, the movement of her cheeks beside his own clearly stating her answer.

"I haven't boasted about my talent to you yet, but everyone else was able to hear it before!" the energetic rocker declared, Kazuki giving a small sigh as the relentless grip around his neck was released, only to be replaced by a yeep as it travelled to his hand. "Come on, the music studio's this way! You're going to love Ibuki's music!"

'You know, you get a different view of the world when they aren't looking at you.' The Super High School Level game developer mentally mused as he was pulled along on the insane ride, various students leaping out of the way of the horned girl. With all of the piercings and highlights upon her body, you would think that Ibuki would cut a frightening figure, but such childish energy couldn't be ignored.

The music studio was a vast place, a natural result of the grand funding Hope's Peak received. With all of the instruments you could desire and enough microphones and booths to give each musically inclined student their own even if they didn't specialise in singing, there was little you could wish for. Ibuki was quick to take one of the areas for her own, waving madly to Kazuki as he approached at his own pace. Following her rapid movements and instructions, his finger found the green button, pressing down with a small light.

"There! If you need to talk to me, make sure to press that button, okay? Ibuki can't hear you otherwise!" the Super High School Level light music club member stated in a song like tone, spinning as she swept the guitar off of its stand. "Now, prepare to be amazed! This first song is called 'When the first love ends in tears.'"

When you say the title, light music club member', you naturally went to the various pop tunes that flooded the charts, all bubbly and cheerful, talking about romance and how you were strong in your own way. There had been plenty of different ways that Kazuki could've implemented such songs into his repertoire, hyping up the player for their next fight, making an opening more interesting and the like. With a title like the one she gave it, the grey eyed student had been expecting a more sombre tune; you couldn't be called the Super High School Level in your craft if you were so limited in your view after all. They had a magic of their own, making a sad scene more emotional, adding drama to a conflict.

So when the vicious wailing began, he near leapt out of the seat.

There was no room for trying to explain what a _light music club_ member was doing with such violent tunes. Place Ibuki within a rock concert in some sort of grandiose venue and it would be a perfect match, especially with her general aesthetic. Given a few moments though, the boy was quickly rocking with her, completely unaffected by the near trembling of the speakers beside him. It was fortunate that each of the booths were independently soundproofed, otherwise they most likely would've gotten several complaints.

With a fierce yell and a final chord, Ibuki gave a cheer as her song ended, looking to the madly clapping Kazuki.

"The mic's not on!" the girl yelled to the silent cheering boy, a small awkward chuckle escaping him as his finger pressed down.

"That was amazing Miss Mioda!" Kazuki praised, rushing over to the door. "I knew we're all Super High School Level students here, but I never expected something so… amazingly passionate, so wonderfully burning! There are so many scenes I could implement that into! I can see it now, the player approaches a quiet room, the last boss standing forlorn within… before the true intent of his evil is revealed, switching to the energetic battle!"

"Oh, stop really, you're making Ibuki blush!" the girl said with a light push to the boy, quickly latching onto him like before in ignorance of his small squeak. "I knew you should be my little brother, praising my music and then me buying you so many treats for it!"

"Ah, Miss Mioda… Please let go…"

"Oh, excuse me? Are we disturbing something?"

Well, who cares for self-respect anyway? He had just been seen with a girl (potentially, literally) hanging off of him by an entire group of them. That meant gossiping and that meant _rumours!_ With a sigh, the boy gently eased off the musician as he turned to the gathered group with a bow.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't think that anyone would be here!" the boy said, looking across the gathered group. "Are you all a band?"

"Actually, we're an idol group!" their leader, a cute girl with flowing blue hair declared, stepping forward with hands held in front of her skirt. "I'm Sayaka Maizono and there are Satomi Aoba, Ayaka Haneyama, Ino Kuroneko and Midori Ayane. Have you heard of us before?"

Of course he had heard of them before, the group were famous worldwide for their amazing performances and songs. There had been rumours of the various vile acts they had committed in order to arrive at such a prestigious level, but they were often drowned out by the sheer number of fans the group had received. He had asked once or twice to borrow the rights to their music, but he was near humiliated…

"Ah, you're the Super High School Level game developer, right?" Sayaka remarked once her group had begun their preparations within one of the bigger booths. "I remember the name from when our manager spoke about it. Were you thinking of that just?"

"How did you know that?" Kazuki asked with a raised eyebrow, wrapping his Crombie closer around him, answered by a giggle.

"It's because I'm psychic of course!" the blue haired idol cheerfully declared, a finger to her forehead as a large gasp escaped Ibuki. "I'm just kidding, I have good intuition! It's only natural that you would think about that."

"Aw, don't get Ibuki's hopes up like that…" the pierced girl maned, instantly perking up straight after. "So you're also singers? Then that means Ibuki's your super senior!"

"Well, we're not actually a part of Hope's Peak, we just get to use the studios when they're free." Sayaka answered, though the bow came regardless. "But if any one of us happened to get into the next class, Please take care of us!"

"Naturally Miss Maizono. We really should be going now though; class will start any minute." Kazuki announced, a quick glance to his watch having him sweat once more before a sudden realisation came to him. "Shouldn't all of you still be in school as well? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, don't worry about us. We got specific permission to leave our lessons. Good luck with yours though!" the idol bid farewell, waving as the two Hope's Peak academy students began to rush out. "Well, they seem like nice enough people…"

* * *

With long mint hair tied back into a single ponytail flowing triumphantly in the slight breeze that filled the park, the setting sun gave her eyes a second fire to their usual glow as she looked down upon the gathered people from her place on the edge of the fountain.

"Sure, they've had one incident, a tragic incident that will never be forgotten in the seas of time, but why should we let that shake our faith in Hope's Peak Academy? They tirelessly form our future with the students that travel through their halls, building them, sculpting them and guiding them into their greatest forms. There are those who act as if the death that occurred was the fault of Hope's Peak, but they are simply the victims of this terrible event too.

This is a time where we should be coming together, not condemning them for another's actions. If you were in their place, would you not wish for assistance as well? Would you not want people to believe you honest and trustworthy? Would you not want people to help you? Think upon that and say, full heartedly, no. Just that simple word. No, I wouldn't want any help when people accuse me of murder. No, I wouldn't want any help when people are blaming me for something I had no hand in. Sure, they seemed to lack the necessary security to prevent that girl's death, but we cannot pretend that they're doing nothing about it. The various incidents occurring around the place are proof that there is some force specifically targeting the school and I say that we need to work together to stop them, not dig the victims deeper into a grave."

"You're sister's a good speaker." Chiaki commented as she held the paused game console in her hand, Kazuki resting next to her with eyes shut.

"Absolutely. She devotes all she has to the thing she loves and it really shows…" the game developer declared, a proud tone overflowing from his voice. "I mean, how could she not be excellent for the role when she has such a powerful voice and entrancing personality? I'm the happiest older brother that there could be!"

Chiaki let the smile come to her face as the game started once again, a new strength entering Kazuki's actions as the two flung each other about, firing wildly in a controlled manner at each other's defences and generally attacking their opponents with all they had. It was rare to see the Super High School Level Gamer ever have a challenge, but those who were well tuned to her actions, the flicking of her fingers over the buttons seemed to require more effort than usual.

With a cheerful bounce to her step, the speaker strolled up the bench the two were sat on, rocking upon the balls of her feet until the defeat sound clip resounded from Kazuki's console alongside his groan.

"Hey, did I do alright out there?" she asked, a light airy voice that made for a great contrast with the sheer strength she had commanded so easily before. His answer was a hug that spun her around, a delighted cry escaping the girl as the Super High School Level game developer pushed back her ponytail to the curve of her back.

"It was great as always Mori! You make me so proud!" he said, rubbing the top of her head. Just like all of the times she had done so before, the now named Mori preened under the attention before her blue eyes flicked over to Chiaki, watching them with a curious tilt of the head. "Oh by the way, this is the friend I've been talking about, Chiaki Nanami – Super High School Level Gamer. Miss Nanami, this is Mori Hiraku – my sister."

"He really speaks of you a lot." The pink haired girl remarked, a small giggle escaping the other girl. "I haven't heard of anything over than positive things from him."

"I would hope so!" Mori answered, an elbow finding its way to Kazuki's stomach as he laughingly pushed it away. "After all, I never do anything that should have him saying bad things about me!"

"Well, maybe there are a few events I can think of off of the top of my head…" the green haired boy commented, a finger tapping against his chin as a devious smirk took over his usual smile. "Maybe I should speak of that time when yo-!"

A sudden slap over his mouth had the words trapped in his lips, Mori's eyes lidded as she whispered gently in his ear, though Chiaki heard perfectly clearly.

"Maybe you want me instead to talk about that time with the girls. _All of them._ " The threat was unspoken, but none would be stupid enough to disregard it. With a rapid hand, the offending appendage was pushed away, a red tinge coming over Kazuki's features.

"You promised you would never speak about that!" Kazuki hissed, all of the intimidating features completely erased from him as the stance was changed to the defensive mode. "Besides, I didn't even do anything in that! That was entirely an accident!"

"Heh, you keep telling yourself that Bro. Maybe one day, it will come true!"

The two turned at the first signs of giggles, a shared glance passing between them as Chiaki ended up dissolving into laughter. The comedy routine was always good for breaking the ice and with all of the sadness that had been passing about, the creativity was well deserved. Even if some of the people had been taking things better than the rest, there was an underlying tension that plagued the people.

"So, this is the girl you're always writing back about. You know, I think she's perfect!" Mori declared, Kazuki giving a small sound of complaint as he was pushed beside the pink haired girl, though Chiaki wasn't objecting as her arm was forcibly draped over his shoulders. The public speaker's fingers were a frame in front of her eyes, several gasps and hums escaping her. "Absolutely! The fact that you're so shy and she seems so friendly makes you the perfect match and it's almost as if her hand was moulded to you!"

"She's always been like this. I don't know where she gets it from, but she really likes to put people together." Kazuki whispered with an apologetic smile, every single time Chiaki tried to move her arm resulting in Mori giving a small condescending sound, putting it back in place and bopping the Super High School Level Gamer on the nose.

"Well, I'm glad that Kazuki's in good hands." She finally sighed, clapping her hands together as Chiaki hesitantly pulled away until she was certain that it was safe to do so. "He needs a good girl to keep him on track, otherwise he'll be doing more than he can handle. When he tries to do too much, he tends to lose track of time and ends up falling asleep in really bad times."

"Yeah, I've already seen it." Chiaki answered, Kazuki rubbing the back of his neck.

"You've got to say that I deserved that. After all, I'm not good with all-nighters and that one needed to work!" the amber eyed boy objected, Chiaki rolling her eyes in response. "Please? … Anyway, how have you been? Things have been getting a bit… dicey after all."

"Me? I'm absolutely fine!" Mori asked, a sudden twinkle to her eye that had a shiver pass down Kazuki's spine. "I want to know about how you've been doing. There have been rumours about who's been behind the deaths of people aimed to go and those close to people who go to Hope's Peak and I was hoping that you would be able to explain a few things…"

* * *

Nagito strolled down the street, surprised that there had been no issues so far. His bad luck had become incredibly infamous, every single walk he had taken somehow resulting in some terrible mishap. This time though, he was merely left to his musings, waiting for the inevitable.

"We're always like that huh? Always simply waiting for the inevitable. But I guess these recent events haven't been normal, or at least, no one can say they've been normal." The white haired boy mused, waving to a passing cat that hissed as it ran away. "Oh well. You can't have hope when you don't need it after all. This despair can only give rise to an excellent hope!"

"Ah, Nagito!" the Super High School level luck turned to the calling voice, Tsumiki heaving as she came to a stop beside him. It was the perfect timing as she tripped, arms flailing back and forth, a small scream escaping as she flew forward, Nagito giving one of his own as the two ended up flying across the street, two old ladies giving pause as they saw the tangled mess before them.

"Teens these days. You would think they'd at least wait for some privacy before doing those sorts of things."

"Well come along, we don't want to be here for any longer than we really want to be."

"I'm so sorry!" the Super High School Level nurse cried, leaping backward form where she had grabbed the boy in an intimate embrace. "I think there was something on the pavement and I tripped and I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it Tsumiki." Nagito said, hands held forth to calm the crying purple haired girl. "Tell me, were you going anywhere specific?"

"Ah, I was going to meet Mahiru! Apparently, there's been a party for the girls only." The nurse declared, a perked eyebrow coming from the white haired boy as he corrected his jacket. "I'm sorry, but it was one of the first things decided."

"Oh, that's fine. Mahiru's celebration should be done to her tastes after all." The Super High School Level luck declared with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You should go Tsumiki, don't let someone like me hold you back from having fun."

"Oh, okay… Bye then…" and she was off like a lightning bolt, grey eyes lingering upon her fleeing body for a moment before Nagito got himself comfortable upon the floor.

"Such innocence, it doesn't deserve to be tainted with the despair of death. But it has to. There must be sacrifices if we wish to see the coming of a beautiful hope. I wonder when they will strike next…"

* * *

 **Because Nagito. I mean, what's wrong with the boy? After all, he merely orchestrated an incredibly complex suicide, blew up a bloody school, did very strange things under the control of children and was willing to completely disown Hajime for his reserve class position. He has a pretty face? Oh, okay then. I won't be able to upload next week due to work getting in the way, but please look forward to the week after that!**


	10. 10 - ready for punishment?

**And keep the train rolling! Naturally, if I'm going to create a Super High School Level OC, I've got to come up with an execution for him. I didn't expect it to go on for as long as it does, I was honestly expecting only about one hundred words before having him abruptly wake up, but then I just kept writing without thinking and lo and behold, you have the beauty before you. There are also very important changes to look out for! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: With the church's blessings, reign supreme with rulers at your side!_

 _Shirou: I don't really have a sweet tooth right now... Not like it matters to you, does it?_

 _Kazuki: Just remember, you should do anything to prevent your friends from harm, no matter what!_

 _Shirou: Yes, I fight for my friends!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

" _It's time for you to go! I'm pressing the delete button!"_

 _ **PRESS TO CONTINUE – BEGIN!**_

 _Where was he? He was clearly upon some sort of red platform, the green lines forming a mesh over it meant to be wireframe if Kazuki was thinking right. The boy stepped back, a small dusting of surprise over his face as the small interface popped up, a pair of buttons, green with the word 'SAVE' done in LEDs of a similar colour and the other, a glowing crimson decorated with the word 'QUIT' splattered on in… paint?_

" _Huh? Miss Koizumi?" Kazuki asked, a second platform holding the Super High School Level photographer captive in a chair, a deep blue tainting fair skin as the various guns came out around her, all misshapen like he had sometimes done if he was modelling upon a bad day. Looking to the buttons again, there was only one clear choice for the Game Developer, a single glance towards brown eyes desperately calling out for help. A hand slammed down, the green button letting out a pleasant buzz as the steel surrounding Mahiru disappeared, the exact same situation opening fire upon his own body, a torrent of rubber bullets pummeling his body as before a second could pass, Mahiru was sent back into the darkness._

 _Left panting upon the floor surrounded by an ocean of rubber, Kazuki looked up at the second screeching of motors, Teruteru tied up like a hog and surrounded by flamethrowers. They too weren't a sophisticated system, the tubes pentagons and roughly edged, as if it had been carved by a blind man. The chef was trembling like mad, a natural response to the idea that you couldn't defend yourself as your flesh was about to be roasted like a pig. The LEDs in front of the green button had changed now; a post-it note sudden attached above done in his own rough scrawl._

" _ **No more save points have been implemented – remember to do that later."**_

" _It's not like it's a choice!" Kazuki grunted, slamming down once more upon the green button, now designated as 'CONTINUE'. The same breath of relief escaped the boy as the various burning weapons folded away from his position, only to have their wrath brought down upon Kazuki, the various welts born from the bullets now being seared by the fires. The green haired boy (though the green was occasionally ruined by black) wasn't stupid, he could see that as long as he didn't move, and frankly, he didn't think he could, the flame streams would avoid the main part of his body, merely leaving their scorches upon various parts of his body._

 _The heat left a haze, the boy tenderly reaching up to the various welts and burns, discarding the burnt remains of his precious Crombie. The next victim came from the darkness a moment after Teruteru disappeared, Sonia's frozen expression of horror carving into his mind as the Super High School Level princess found herself surrounded by various malformed blades, though from the vicious roaring that filled the air, it did little to remove from their effectiveness. There wasn't a need for words as the green button was pressed in once more, a stoic face carved from stone acting as his mask as the metal tore through his flesh. It was rather strange look, one that Kazuki would never choose for himself – he wouldn't have been comfortable with the exposed chest, large amount of leg and vicious cuts._

 _The princess gave way for Fuyuhiko, the boy struggling against his bonds like mad as machines made of green came out, large boxing gloves being the clear indicator of what was to come next. What could he say in this situation? It was either take it for himself or let his friends suffer the fate specifically designed for him. As they disappeared from the Super High school yakuza's side to come to his, Kazuki gave a farewell to the boy, Fuyuhiko disappearing to Kazuki's blood stained salute as the gloves came up upon his body. Though the various strikes moved him about much more, a ragdoll between blood soaked walls, they did little to rattle the game developer, the same face remaining upon his visage._

 _The tortures kept coming, various classmates met by odd death traps, the green button quickly becoming decorated by red as Kazuki continued over and over again. He easily realised the whole point of the trap by the time that Hiyoko's form rose up to be met by a spike shooting trap, the majority of his skin hidden from the girl by the essence of life that replaced his ruined clothes apart from the underwear that was oddly avoided. Eventually, met by the final arrival, Chiaki looked on in shock at Kazuki's brutalised form, a giant crusher hovering above her with the style of a delete key from a keyboard._

 _The strange addition was the same interface in front of the Super High School gamer, the only difference being that both buttons had a green tone along with two words – 'SAVE' and 'SAVE' in reach of her. Her hands were free, but upon the steel platform, it wasn't as if she could do anything much other that click on one of the buttons in front of her. From her viewing place, she was given a great show of what the button did, her hand reaching out. This time though, she wasn't given a view of the mutation Kazuki's red button, the paint changed for 'UNDO' as a second post-it quickly stained unreadable, but not before Super High School Game Developer was able to read it._

" _ **Will reverse last change. Last change: both buttons will act as quit, no matter their designation."**_

' _Well, I can't let Miss Nanami get hurt!' the boy declared in his mind, mouth to busy panting for air to make the words out loud. Quickly slamming down upon the changed red button, followed by the green, he looked up to Chiaki's horrified façade._

 _As soon as her fingers pushed down, there was no chance the pink haired girl would be able to stop. The SAVEs written upon were quickly changed for 'DELETE' the sound of the crusher moving before she could even verbally speak._

" _If… I let them… take it… they wouldn't die…" Kazuki explained, Chiaki flinching at the sheer reservation she heard in the normally cheerful boy's tone. "But… I'm stupid… I couldn't let them… be hurt… no matter what. Together… they are definitely deadly… Bye, Chiaki."_

 _The Super High School Game Developer was deleted before she could even say goodbye._

* * *

"NO!"

"Kazuki? What's up?"

The glare of the screen in his room was disoriented, the boy rubbing his bloodless eyes with the sleeve of his Crombie. He really shouldn't have been doing so, but it wasn't as if it would be completely destroyed by simply wiping his ey- that's not the issue!

Deep breaths entered Kazuki as he looked to his side, Chiaki clearly recovering from the effects of sleep as the girl yawned. Without words, the gamer quickly found her arms full of boy, the green blocking her vision preventing her from clearly viewing the wetness that she found staining her chest. It wasn't as if she had much of an example as to what she should do in this situation, merely settling for a small circle upon his back, a hum of Gala Omega's theme tune in his ear.

"I… will make sure no one hurts you, or any of the others…" it was small, but she had trained her ears from hundreds of rhythm games to hear the smaller details; it was as clear as day for Chiaki. Maybe the stress of making his game as well as recent events was getting to him, the exams were soon to come up, but he had been having a great time when his sister visited; she had been sure that would cheer him up enough.

'He's scared for us… He's scared for me.' The girl mused, the small shakes slowly lessening as she released her grip, the boy falling asleep once more in an instant. 'And he really likes his sleep like me.'

Most would naturally assume that as a gamer, she was weak, but that didn't stop her from lifting the boy onto his bed, hanging the coat strew across the covers onto the back of his chair. A few quick clicks had the game work he had done on hold, saved and shut down; he wouldn't mind if she was saving energy. It was only as she tried to leave when things got awkward.

'Miss… Nanami… Chiaki…'

"He used my name…?" that was first. It was a harsh blow to the usual image the boy put on, a cheerful young thing bursting with enthusiasm, trying to find the time to spend with everyone at least once, usually to his detriment. Seeing the writhing shape in the covers, there was little for Chiaki to do. She would be at his side like he promised he would for her. The chair wasn't far from his side, a useful part of her game skills meaning she could do it all with only a single hand. With a hand resting upon the boy's now calm body, it was a simple task of restarting her game.

All she would have to do is press to continue.

* * *

"Right then! This is a schedule for the practical exams that start tomorrow. IF any of you need to do something to prepare, then you have to get it done today, alright?" Chisa explained, a happy smile upon her face. "In the Hope's Peak Academy main course, we don't have final exams by term. Instead, we hold a single set of practical exams at the end of the year. IF the returned results turn out as poor, then you risk the loss of your position at this school, but there's no way anyone here could possibly fail! It's the chance to use your talents and truly show off to the examiners exactly what you're capable of doing!"

Silence. The frown began to pull at the edges of her lips as she looked to Kazuki and Chiaki, the two most likely to be able to pull everyone out of the funk they had entered, but the two held grim expressions of their own. It was natural that there would be some apprehension around the class; there was no way you'd get all of the people to actively enjoy the prospect of being judged for the very thing that made you extremely special, but the depression bore down like Atlas's burden. This was going to be difficult.

Instead, Chisa had been toiling away hard within the staffroom, trying to find some form of motivation for her group when the knock came, greeted by the smile of Nagito.

"You really want me to cancel the exam?" the teacher repeated, a serene nod escaping the white haired boy. "Everyone certainly is feeling a bit gloomy…"

"Unlike me, the others are practically bursting with talent; they will easily ace any exam that would be put to them. In this state however, they clearly can't be performing at their best. The chance for a moment where all their talents shine most brightly is at risk here, and is that not the point of the exams?" Nagito reasoned, the orange haired teacher giving an awkward chuckle.

""Well, I'd also like to make that possible, but with all of the media coverage for the event that's planned, cancelling the whole thing might prove to be a little difficult…" Who wouldn't want to see the greatest hopes for the future demonstrating their skills? It was a reassurance that Hope's Peak was only accepting the best of the best, it was a chance for children to get an inspiration of their own and it would give the people supporting the reassurance that things were going well. The bright smile gave way to a small frown, Nagito holding down his once gesturing hands.

"Is that so…? I understand." The boy softly stated, Chisa perking up in confusion in her seat.

"Wait, that's it? You're just going to give up so easily?" the ex-Super High School Level housekeeper asked, receiving a bow in return.

"Naturally. I must thank you very much Miss Yukizome." Nagito intoned, waking out of the staffroom without another word.

"Well, I guess it was a bit too much to ask for." The white haired boy mused aloud as he strolled down the corridor, empty classrooms through the glass. Just because Chisa was trying to get everyone in class, doesn't mean that the other years were as motivated in time. Surely they were just taking the personal time in order to perfect their crafts individually, to be a ray of hope for the future in their own right. "In that case, I'll just have to do this myself… No, he should be a good choice."

* * *

The game over soundbite rang out as Chiaki held down the game console, looking to the side with a sigh. Nope, still just her lunch. Hajime had promised to come meet with her and Kazuki at the fountain once more, but the lack of either boy was starting to get a little distressing.

"I'm sorry I'm late! I had to make sure I had everything I wanted to give Kazuki!"

Hajime was certain he had gotten all of the papers he wanted, care taken not to have them spill all over the place. Panting as soon as he came to a stop next to the girl, he met her questioning eyes, merely passing the sheets to Chiaki.

"He wanted me to see if I could come up with any ideas, so I just did some rough things in my spare time. I also got stopped with an offer by the staff, so I had to deal with that." The reserve course student explained, scanning the barren area. "Hey, where is Kazuki anyway?"

"An offer by the staff?" Chiaki parroted, followed by a shrug. "I don't think Kazuki's coming. What did the staff offer you to do?"

"Apparently it was top secret, a way to get me into the main course without having to do anything." Hajime explained, looking down to his barren hands. "But after seeing all you two have done… I think I want to get into the main course through my own talent, not through cheating and secrecy. If my hands don't hold potential, then I don't deserve to be there. I'll prove that I'm worth bringing into the main course."

They had proven to be rather prickly when it came to explaining what exactly they wanted to do, other than somehow give a student _every single talent possible._ The idea was outrageous, but they promised that they had the ability to do so and Hajime was rather swayed towards thinking so as well. After all, they were a research school as well as a normal academy. But it felt almost as if it was cheating, that he wouldn't deserve any of the things he would be able to do if he agreed.

Besides, every single talent? Did he really want to be known as something like the ultimate _pillow maker_? _Janitor_? Wouldn't something like being a _super model_ even count? They could have someone else do that, he would be fine developing a talent from something he actually enjoyed, like Chiaki and Kazuki. Where could that boy be, anyway?

* * *

"So why am I here with you again?" Kazuki asked, following the Super High School Level luck as he entered the room, a dark area, without even a by your leave Sure, he had said that he wanted to get something special that would help everyone make sure their exams were the best, but he hadn't really explained more than that. There was a single student within, eyes focused intently upon the dropper in hand. "And should we really b-!"

"Hello there!"

"AAAHHH!"

The rest of the pink… something, entered, a small cloud erupting from the test tube as she turned an angered face to Nagito the boy leaning back with hands up in surrender as she tore into him.

"Do you have a death wish!?" the girl asked incredulously, pulling away the face mask to reveal braced teeth. With blue hair that fell to her shoulders, or would do if it didn't curl back up through some strange technique, she was remarkably pretty for being alone in the dark without any friends to watch or help.

"My apologies! I merely just wanted to get a laxative I asked for." The white haired boy asked, the girl placing down her test tube with the utmost care as she stood from her seat. A sudden knocking at the door had the three all turn to it, quickly degrading into a furious banging.

"OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR! SEIKO, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, JUST LET ME IN!" a masculine voice roared, Kazuki turning to the Super High School Pharmacist with a questioning look, moving at her nod.

"Um, your laxative should be on the farthest shelf at the very back of the storage room. It's the one on the right side of the upper shelf."

"Oi, Seiko! You have to come and see this quick!" a blonde boy had barged straight past Kazuki, bear knocking him to the ground as he grabbed an iron hold of Seiko's arm, a small sound of protest as she forcibly dragged her out.

"I'm going to follow them Mr. Komaeda! You get what you wanted to get!" the game developer cried, the room barren before even a reply could come. It was a short dash to follow up, a screeching stop as soon as his eyes fell upon the same sight as Seiko's and the other boy's.

It was definitely his mind which began the cacophony of anguished wails, his eyes struggling to fully take in the sight before him as they flicked across the body. There was no mistaking it this time, the pallet knife somehow leaving several stab wounds. Various decorations had been splattered upon her body, her mouth holding a cream puff in a terrified expression. The red soaked into the white icing poured upon her chest, but that didn't make her any less distinguishable. He had been hoping to try one of her treats too.

Andou Ruruka had been murdered.

* * *

 **Isn't that just lovely? So, Hajime is on his way to not becoming Izuru, Andou is dead, Natsumi is still alive and the one who originally was meant to kick this all off is dead. What's Happening!? The changes will be put in place soon, and I fear that there will be the echo of guns to deal with... As I said before, the chapter won't come out next week, but the one after that, so please look forward to it.**


	11. 11 - ready for exams?

**Well, I guess there are some people who like the idea of Ruruka dying. I mean sure, she killed her loving boyfriend by backstabbing him using his lone weakness and made him do her work for her, uncaring for the fact that her friend wasn't able to eat her sweets and used it as an excuse to be suspicious of her, but she wasn't entirely a bitch. probably. Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Sugar sweet, with a metallic tang. that it the blood soaked icing that decorates death..._

 _Shirou: Look to the sky and fight! Greece vs. Britain starts here!_

 _Kazuki: I wonder... maybe I could..._

 _Shirou: Kazuki, you better ace those exams coming up!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! a wildcard awakens!_

* * *

Seiko's tears fell upon Kazuki's shoulder, the boy kneeling before the candied corpse with a useless mouth. The small crash that came from the direction of the Pharmacist's room was left unheard as the three remained glued to the decorated dead girl.

"W-wha?" a part of her wanted to say that Andou deserved it, that by constantly getting her to do things for little returns purely for the fact that they were childhood friends was abuse, the years gradually building up until the karma crashed into her, but Seiko couldn't do that with her limp body before her. Izayoi was silent by her side, staring down on the body with soundless tears. The act of drawing in the red coat was quickly paused, the feel of the knife against his heart a painful reminder of what he had failed to do.

"Who… could do this?" Kazuki whispered, looking to his two seniors without answer. "So close to the exams too… it's like someone wants to ruin the school's reputation by having the students killed…"

"It really is a shame, but I can see why they would do it."

Three heads swivelled towards the soft comment of Nagito, the boy watching on with such a false sense to his sorrow that the game developer almost felt as if he could just rip the bloody stuff off of him and show the true Komaeda.

"After all, wouldn't it just spread so much despair to have the best school in the country brought to ruin right when they should be burning brightly with talent?" the Super High School Level luck reasoned with a small smile, pushing past Kazuki to crouch down beside the defiled body of Ruruka. "They think that with the killing, the school will be forced to shut down the exams, embarrass themselves in front of the media."

"Aren't you a little too calm about this?" Izayoi questioned, his stance tight as he took a step closer. There was no telling what this kid was about to do; for all they knew, he was the killer with time to clean himself off and he was right next to his dead girlfriend. "What's with you?"

"But the school won't stop, not at this point." Nagito continued, regardless of how the Super High School Level blacksmith's fingers twitched. "They'll no doubt continue and prove to the world that they still hold hope against this killer. It will act as the motivation for a brilliant hope!"

"Mr Ko- Nagito, we need to go tell someone about this quick!" Kazuki declared, latching onto the boy's hand as Nagito gave a quirked eyebrow. "I'm sure these two will be able to take care of the… body until the police come, so we should go inform the teachers."

"T-trust me, no one's reaching this body." Seiko declared, a burning fire within the pharmacist that was rarely allowed to burn. Kazuki gave a small nod as his feet began to move, the lucky student following behind with a hidden smile.

Just as he thought.

* * *

Just as he thought, the school weren't going to do a damn thing. Naturally, every student was completely ruffled with the news of the next murder, policemen filing past students without a word of concern. Even the people that had remained loud and energetic within the last event kept their exuberance hidden in the build up towards the exams, Kazuki looking to the fingers that still bounced, even as he held a hand to the mousepad with all of his might.

"Kazuki, you should take a rest." Chiaki stated, giving a small poke to the coated shoulder of the green haired boy, the lone movement enough to send him wobbling in his seat. "This can't be healthy."

"Oh no, it's fine… After all, you do your own all-nighters too, don't you?" the boy remarked half-heartedly, unresponsive to the small glare he received from the gamer.

"Well that's because I can actually take it." She replied, looking to the screen where Kazuki had already restarted his rapid movements over the keyboard, lines after lines of logic born without even a wasted space. The pinned up papers behind it were still proudly displayed, several ticks and praises written upon it as if a child had received a great grade by their teacher.

"But it's almost finished and once the exams start, I really just have to show them what I've made and give a few questions. My biggest issue is how I'm going to appear before the cameras when they undoubtedly reveal my identity." Armour man Origin wasn't going to be a question anymore and he was bound to be hounded by various questions. The fact that he was using a different concept to build upon might disguise it for a small time, but there always were the pesky people who would undoubtedly unpick every part of it.

"I'm surprised that you're using Hajime's ideas for your big exam piece." Chiaki commented, gently unpinning the main paper that the green haired boy had been referencing to, the latest addition being a big tick alongside the main concept; everything had been completed and now it was just finishing touches that had to be done.

"Well of course, after all, they are good ideas Miss Nanami." Kazuki reasoned around a yawn, only twenty more characters before it was finished. "Mr. Hinata's really creative. Maybe he can channel that into a talent and get put with us eventually. I think you should go now, but thank you for keeping me company."

She answered with a dull nod, her own drowsiness catching up to her. While she really didn't need it, she would be able to best express her abilities with a fully rested mind, meaning she would be working at her best. It certainly would be easier than sitting some of the tests she had seen used in other schools, but it would be better safe than sorry.

"See you then." As the door was shut, Kazuki gave one last glare to the twitching appendage, its actions un-paused unless preoccupied with other activities. "God damn it… at least Seiko was nice."

 _"Oh, Kazuki was it? Here, you should probably take this. I heard that you were the one who managed to chance upon the last... the last one and these pills should help you in case you can't sleep."_

"She really is the Super High School Level Pharmacist if she can get these so easily without being a doctor. Making them can't be easy." Amber eyes locked onto to the seemingly innocent blue and white pills, flexing under his hold. With a glass of water, he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

" Perfect! I'm not the best with working a computer, but let's see what we can do here…"

* * *

"And now with the delicious conclusion of Teruteru Hanamura, we have to move from cooking, to computers!" the centre of the four examiners declared, a napkin to his lips as he wiped away the remains of Teruteru's piece. Even if it had been delicious, the judges just weren't as used to his cooking to taste the hesitation in the meant, the lack of motivation within the sauces, that the Super High School Level chef couldn't prevent. "The next examinee is the Super High School Level game developer, able to make brilliant masterpieces that have dazzled the world! Please come forth, Kazuki Hiraku!"

It would be fine. He had the blessings of his classmates and the game was finished. All he had to do was display it to the world, let the judges play and answer whatever questions they had. The crowd burst into applause as he stepped past the curtains, clinging to the lapels of his coat. The game was already placed in front of each of the judges, a quarter split screen allowing the rest of the gathered people to easily view.

"For this exam, I decided to create a mystery game, based around finding the truth around a lost lover. The main character, having protected her as long as he can, awakes to his friend telling of his lover's disappearance." Kazuki began, his voice echoing through the great hall. "As a tribute to the recently deceased, I altered the main mechanic, namely getting glimpses of the lover's memories through various lights, to having him learn about her life through the sweets she made, filled with her love and hope."

There was silence apart from the in game dialogue, Kazuki standing at ease as he watched his work like the many that lined the walls. The whispers of the students waiting to be tested was easily heard, the unseen mystery as to why the people had gone quiet.

 _"The chocolates… I never did eat them. I wanted to save them for when she was here to eat them with me…"_

 _A single bite had her by his side, snuggling into an invisible arm even as he moved away._

 _"You know, we should go around the world one day. Just you and me, with the air and the wonderful sights; it would be magical." She remarked to the air, the man struggling to find the words._

 _"What the!? How is this-!?" a second glance was spared to the chocolate, an innocent looking thing in his calloused hands._

 _"Yeah, we should. As soon as I can get the money, we'll be off." The words seemingly came from nowhere, but with the strange image of her kissing the air, there was no disguising it._

 _"I remember this… this was a couple weeks ago…"_

The judges' faces were blank, the only tell of their true views being the silent tears that streamed down their faces, mirrored by the audience as the unnamed protagonist reached for his lost love, only to see her evaporate around his hand, replaced only by stifling air. Kazuki's eyebrows could only raise at the sudden fade to white though, the boy awkwardly holding up a hand as he went over to the white covered table.

"um, apologies, but this wasn't meant to-."

* * *

Seiko, having completed her own judgements without too many issues apart from her hesitation with various explanations, had taken to the audience with Izayoi, just as moved as the others when it came to the game. It was a startling resemblance to Ruruka, down to her cutesy tone and even her idle movements seemed to be taken from the actual thing.

"He was asking around you know." Izayoi commented, watching without the waterworks. "Trying to learn all he could to make sure he could show off Ruruka in the best way possible. He's a good guy."

He had even included how the friend, diagnosed with the inability to eat sugar at all, was left to deal with the fact that, due to being too shy to confess, had never been able to eat her friend's sweets, leaving her with the impression that she was unwilling to eat them. It was a stake through the heart, the only thing stopping her from bolting through the door being Izayoi's hand on her shoulder.

It was the fade to white though and his response to it that had their intrigue peaked, the two perching forward only to recoil back at the several images that flashed up in a proud display of disrespect. Nothing said warming tale more than the images of both Sato's and Ruruka's corpses thrown into various demeaning poses, several… none too flattering descriptors and captions added to be openly displayed on live TV.

"Oi, oi, what's going on here?" Izayoi grunted, standing from his seat, quickly followed by Seiko. Kazuki was frozen to the screen, small mutterings unheard, but the camera was having a field day focusing in on his face. The judges were just as perturbed, ready to dig into what this terrible young boy was thinking when he created it, only to be just as shocked when they spared a glimpse to the game developer.

Mikan was quick to pass through the curtains a small surprised shriek as she looked to Kazuki. The boy by now was clutching his heart panting terribly to try and squeeze out the words, but only air came through. There wasn't much the pharmacist nor the blacksmith would be able to do, save from administer some assistive tablets once they actually knew what was the issue, but Seiko had always been informed by the medical students about what they wanted, never having to find the symptoms by herself.

The blond boy's eyes were focused on the twitching hands, the boy now lying on his back as the purple haired nurse tried to make the game developer hold still for a moment, a weird sight causing him to nudge his friend.

"What's tha-"

Kazuki's hand moved to the pocket, unknowing of the button within. The explosion was quick, not a single person over than Izayoi able to see the trigger.

* * *

Fortunately, all of the other students had managed to remain safe, even Nagito who, stood outside the entrance, had found himself surrounded by the rubble born from the explosion. Kazuki however, having pushed Mikan out of the way before he could move, had been… less than lucky.

It was why the Super High School level nurse was sobbing at his bedside, the tears soaking into the bandages under the blankets.

"I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" the girl wailed, Kazuki unable to do much through the pain apart from gently rub the purple tresses that fell upon his side.

"Don't worry Miss Tsumiki… Unless it was you who set off the bomb, who messed with _my_ game, then you have nothing to be sorry for." The boy softly explained, the tears now streaming faster. The rest of the class was quick to burst into the infirmary, a grand charge led by Chisa as she looked down upon her student. "Ah, Madam Yukizome! I'm glad to see you all here!"

Her hands tightened around the paper, news of what had happened already spreading amongst the internet. The fact that the bombing had happened at a time where someone had their work sabotaged had no chance of escaping unnoticed, the boy's pained face making the front page as theories flew rampant. There were some which placed the blame on a jilted friend or lover, scared of being upstaged by Kazuki, while others put the blame squarely upon him. Naturally, these were mixed with various accusations, even saying that the staff wanted an excuse to get more publicity.

"I've come to bring the news that there are suspicions of our class containing the one responsible for setting off the bomb, though there are no leads as to who sabotaged your work." The orange haired teacher informed, the room swallowed by silence before the inevitable complaints came.

"What proof do they have!? Who would be stupid enough to try setting off a goddamn bomb!?" Nidai roared, sentiments mirrored by Akane.

"Besides, where would you get the pieces to make a bomb from anyway?" Ryota reasoned, looking around with a slight tremble. "The sort of things you would need would be incredibly hard to acquire, definitely in a school."

"Well, it's not exactly as if we lack the people who would be able to make a bomb and there are certainly ways of making gunpowder out of chemicals…" Kazuki reasoned with a wince, a small second passing before the majority of the class turned to a quickly protesting Kazuichi.

"Hey, I'm no chemist!" the pink haired Super High School Level mechanic countered, a sigh escaping as he leant back against the white walls. "I mean, I can't deny that I wouldn't be able to create a shell for a bomb, if given enough time to research and work, but I ain't gonna blow up a whole gymnasium with everyone still in it!"

"No one's blaming you Kazuichi." Chisa said, a small frown poking at her mouth. "If you look around you, I'm sure you can see who's been given the blame."

"Nagito…" Mahiru whispered, Hiyoko giving a small scoff.

"Well, it's not like it's unexpected. The guy's a weird freak all of the time." The kimonoed Super high School Level traditional dancer reasoned. "He's always going on about hope and that stuff, it really wants to make me throw up when I'm around him!"

"Hiyoko Saionji, that's no way to speak of your classmate!" Chisa scolded, only a small fraction of a moment after Mahiru's fist rapped the top of her skull, leaving the girl with a few tears beading the corners of her eyes. "But yes, Nagito is the only one out of us who were not with the group, suspiciously able to avoid the main damage of the blast, though it was also attributed to his luck."

"But that's not all, is it?" Chiaki asked, the orange haired ex-Super High School Level housekeeper giving a small nod. It was the words she had come to dread saying, but they couldn't exactly remain a secret.

"I've also been told that I am to transfer into the reserve course for a set period."

"Wait, you aren't going to be our teacher!?" Ibuki questioned in alarm, even the rather unflappable Peko raising an eyebrow at the declaration.

"What sort of shit is this?" Fuyuhiko added, a stern glare returned with a look that spoke in and of itself: 'Not the time to scold the language!'

"Naturally, as the assistant homeroom teacher, I'm not the major influence on the behaviour of the students, that being Kizakura." Chisa quoted. "Therefore, I'm not to be punished, but placed in a different group."

"That can't be…" Chisa was quick to put a tissue to Sonia's tears, a bright smile even breaking through her reluctance and sadness.

"Now then, it's not as if I've been sent away never to be returned." The homeroom teacher said, a small tap on the princess' nose. "And besides, you have Chiaki as your class president, so there should be no tears, okay? You'll all do brilliantly without me, so don't you worry. I'll be missing you just as much from the other building."

* * *

 **Oh Nagito, what are you planning with lovely little Kazuki? And very soon, I'll be adding a slight bit more detail, for what though, I'll leave it up to you to decide. I'll just give you this, it's very important to the story. I don't know why, but these keep popping up in sets of two, so don't worry about having to wait for the next chapter to arrive!**


	12. 12 - ready for holidays?

**Hello, and apologies for coming in a bit late! I had to deal with an angry document manager that didn't want to play fair, but it's only by... six hours... Never mind that. I think I'll just gloss over the holiday and we can get into the parts where Chisa isn't available to the Super High School level students. Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: In the summer time, where the weather is fine, we'll go and start a holy grail war!_

 _Shirou: Don't get too ahead of yourself, or you'll end up like the others!_

 _Kazuki: I don't like the thought of someone rummaging through my files, which were behind a password lock in a password locked profile on my closed computer..._

 _Shirou: If you did, I would be a little bit scared for you..._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

"So, what are you going to do with your holiday Miss Nanami?" Kazuki asked as he finished the scan of the room. It didn't seem as if he missed anything and if anything was to be found, it was most likely small enough to be forgotten.

"Probably get more games." The girl replied. Even with her sleepy demeanour, she was remarkably efficient, having already cleaned out her own dorm with minimal issue, a skill that earned her the envy of the game developer. The answer was easily the first and only thing that popped into her head; maybe it would be good to ask her out a couple times, just to make sure that she was getting the proper exercise. "What about you?"

"I'll probably be working on the final touches toward completing Armour man Swap as well as visiting a few friends and contacts." The green haired boy answered easily, the laptop lid shut as he gave a small gesture, the room locked as soon as Chiaki was out. All it would take now was to return the key to the reception and he would be free from Hope's Peak for the holidays.

Hope's Peak Academy… it hadn't at all been what he had expected upon first impressions. Sure, the strangeness was somewhat mandatory considering all of the strange personalities that were bound to be collected together, but he just had to arrive when they were going to go through their turbulent period, didn't he?

"You're thinking about it again, aren't you?" the Super High School Gamer accused, puffing out her cheeks. "It wasn't your fault and the judges didn't factor it into your result."

"But still, don't you think it was strange?" the boy responded, tugging his coat closer around him. "I was the one to find Sato's… body, and I was there when Miss Andou's was found. Pair that with the fact that it was my work that was sabotaged at the exact time the bomb went off…" they had found a switch near to his position, but considering that he was in full view when it happened, it was believed that it was chucked close to him in an attempt to frame him.

"Maybe you're just a main character in a game." Chiaki reasoned, pausing her game as she let pink eyes match amber. "And all these bad things are happening to set you up to find beautiful things in the future. Usually, the protagonist goes through a traumatising experience and will grow stronger because of it."

"That's the sort of thinking I should've expected from you." Kazuki commented with a small smile, the desk waving goodbye as they exited out onto the main entrance. "But still, I'm scared about how everyone else is taking it… I must've frightened them all…"

"Still thinking about them? You would've made a better Class representative than me." Chiaki quipped, a small giggle escaping as the boy was quick to object. "This is where I have to go. See you later, Kazuki."

"Maybe we can meet next week at the park? I'm sure I can find a way to get Hajime to join us!" a silent nod was the answer to his suggestion, the sounds of various deaths and other events echoing down the street as the girl pulled up the cat hood, Kazuki left watching in the sunset as Chiaki faded into the distance.

"I wonder who we'll get now that Madam Yukizome is going to the reserve course…" the Super High School Level game developer pondered aloud. "There's no chance that it could be someone better, that's for certain…"

"Hey, Kazuki!"

"Oh, hey Mr. Hinata!" the reserve course student was panting, the sweat clearly visible upon his features, but there was still a smile upon his face.

"I'm glad that you're fine. As soon as I heard you were in the infirmary once again, I wanted to come and see you, but our tests were still going." The brunette explained, a small burst of realisation coming to Kazuki.

"Oh yeah, you still have to do all of the normal tests in the reserve course like normal schools, right?" he asked, receiving a nod from Hajime. "I feel for you. Part of the reason I'm so glad to be here is that apart from maybe maths and physics, I don't know how I would do in my tests and to have them every term…"

"It's alright once you get used to it, even if I'm not the greatest." The boy dismissed with a small awkward chuckle, his face becoming gently more serious. "I noticed that you used my game concept in your test. Was that really the best idea?"

"Of course! I really liked your idea of entering other people's bodies in order to see their lives and thoughts, but I realised I could do a bit more with the first one!" the game developer exuberantly explained until the raised hand came in front of his face.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, was it really a good idea to use my idea rather than your own?" now it made sense. Insecurity over his abilities; the reserve course probably cultivated that idea through its sheer existence.

"Hajime, look at this." A piece of paper was shoved in the way of the boy, the small fact that he had used his first name going slightly unnoticed. His eyes trailed down towards the highlighted section, a small scribble of a boy giving a thumbs up done in Kazuki's childish scrawl.

 _"The concept utilised was a beautiful way to give tribute to the recently fallen, but even if that factor was removed, it is an interesting idea to play around with. Where most games will use various supernatural abilities or lost memories being found, the concept used provides a more literal meaning to pouring yourself into your work. Excellent choice."_

"They really loved it, not just because of the small change I made." Kazuki gently claimed. "And the others are just as good. Why don't you try showing off some of these to the scouts? I get the feeling that you've got a talent right there."

A talent? That wasn't what he expected to here, even if he touted it as his goal. Hajime Hinata, the perfectly average and normal boy, had a talent? That was impossible, completely improbable, but maybe…

"Think about it over the holidays and see what you come up with. I'll see you soon, maybe next week by the fountain?" Kazuki suggested, a small response coming from the boy as he looked down once more at the highlighted section, silently returning it to the proper owner before he watched the retreating back.

"A special talent of my own…"

* * *

But the school wouldn't be so easily emptied. All it had taken was a few sweet words and a good deal for the specimen to be under their control and the experiment was able to continue. The parent's weren't stupid; the very opposite, considering their choice of occupation, but enough money had them part with their less important child.

"Are you certain that they're ready for the experiment?" the head scientist questioned, a small nod escaping his subordinate.

"We have full consent. It seems that there really are some people that desperate to enter the main course." He quipped, a small sigh escaping the head.

"Remain serious. This is an important procedure, so we can't risk any issues coming about through lax actions." He warned, the second giving a small cough as they turned to the viewing screen. The facility had been fully prepared, a gathering of scientists below preparing the subject for the next procedure. Fortunately, they didn't need to reveal too much, the simplistic clothes being enough to let the work do what it was created to do without issue.

"We should be able to begin relatively soon, though we have yet to completely confirm the time period we're expecting to work with." The scientist stated. "Though that won't have much of an effect considering that the police aren't searching thanks to her family and the students seemed to have forgotten about her."

"Did we manage to improve our success rate?"

"We've gotten it to a reasonable level, though how big that actually is s unconfirmed. We're wavering between sixty five percent and fifty four." Turning once more the screen, they were able to catch the lid to the capsule closing shut, a serene female face quickly being obscured by liquids, saved only by the breathing mask.

 _I'm scared!_

 _Don't worry, I'm fine._

 _What's going to happen?_

 _Oh, that seems simple enough._

 _Will this really work?_

 _There's no way this could fail!_

 _Where's my brother?_

 _As long as he's safe…_

 _You can't do this to me!_

 _Go ahead, I have no objections._

 _Why me?_

 _You didn't have any other choices, did you?_

 _You're killing me!_

 _Things are alright._

 _I just need to put this on?_

 _What are you putting on me!?_

 _I can't feel a thing._

 _This hurts so much!_

* * *

"A puppet show?" when was the last time he had chanced upon one of those? It clearly wasn't a professional show, but the surrounded children and adults too were absolutely enthralled with the wooden figures. Though the hands weren't visible, they must've been going crazy with all of the strange movements that the puppets were going through, apparently a sword fight within the forest.

"Interested? They're calling her the Super Elementary School Level Puppeteer." A random man remarked, his eyes never moving off of the show. "Her movements are said to be realistic enough that there are those who believe it isn't a person behind the screen."

"I'm almost jealous. I could never move my hands like that." Even with his rapid finger movements, he could never really call himself dexterous, more likely to get his entire body tangled in the strings rather than produce any proper movements. As one of the puppets fell to masculine groan of defeat, a grand applause rang out from the audience, the puppeteer revealing herself to be a young girl of black hair pulled into braids, brown eyes shining as she gave a bow.

"Thank you! I'll be back next week, so please look forward to that!" she gracefully announced, a great amount of grace for what seemed to be a child. Kazuki just couldn't help the urge to speak with the girl, his feet moving of their own accord.

"I have to say, that was amazing! Where did you learn to be that brilliant?" the green haired boy gushed, receiving a small giggle in response.

"Actually, I learnt this all by myself! You should've seen my family when I walked around with a man's voice." She happily quipped, the shock on the gam developer's face hidden. "Are you new to my shows?"

"Yeah, I heard that they were going to put something on, but I never knew that there was going to be a puppet show." He replied, looking around as the audience dispersed into the park.

"Well, puppets are beautiful. You can be anyone and do anything in a fantasy world." The girl claimed in a reminiscing tone, one that would be better on an elderly woman that a child. "Oh, by the way, I'm Luna Maki. It means I'm genuine with my acts, no hidden tricks! What about you?"

"I'm Kazuki Hiraku. It's a pleasure to meet you!" a small call from the distance had the boy looking over her shoulder, Chiaki and Hajime waving him over to the fountain. "I'm afraid I'll have to go Miss Maki, so look after yourself."

"And you too!" the smile remained on her face even once the boy had disappeared with his friends, a small tilt of her head being all before she returned to the shadows of her booth. After all, the next show wouldn't prepare itself.

"I should do the one about the sheep being led by a false shepherd, only for one to discover and try to break his friends free!"

* * *

It was strange seeing the girl still in her school uniform, but there was no deceiving his eyes; it really was her.

"Miss Fukawa? Why are you at my house?" Kazuki asked, the girl near leaping out of her skin as she whipped around."

"I thought you were inside! You're telling me you weren't even in and I was forced to stand out here for nothing?" she hissed, quickly latching onto the game developer and drawing him in close. "Open up quickly. I have to speak to you about something!"

There was no hesitation as he messed about with the lock, a much harder task considering that he had one arm forced out of use by the iron grip of Touko. A quick yell and greeting with his parents were all he could fit in before the writer had him forced into the confines of his room, door locked and navy curtains drawn closed. With only the light of a small desk lamp to help their visibility, Touko was fast to start pacing back and forth, Kazuki gently situating himself at the oak desk.

"It happened again… I think it was the pollen, but I hadn't heard the notice. I just woke up and there was a body in front of me!" she rapidly threw out, Kazuki giving a small nod. The girl had been forced to give up her secret when he had received a visit from the second half, apparently irresistible to the violent personality.

 _"Aren't you just the cutest thing ever!?"_

"Oh… Did you bring the mask I brought you?" the amber eyed boy asked, a small sound of distress escaping the writer before she silently gave a shake of her head, a sigh escaping him. "Let me guess, you forgot it."

"I didn't do it purposely! It was getting a bit stuffy, so I left it on my desk with my writing stuff!" she quickly excused. "But what am I meant to do!? I can't just keep this happening! I need to get out during these times; it's the only chance I get to attend things like signings!"

It wasn't a hard concept to grasp. There was a chance that when she went out to such events, she would change with a bad whiff of pollen and it certainly wasn't going to help her publicity if she ended up being outed as a serial killer in front of the cameras. He had also done similar events in disguise (without the risk of being outed as a murderer, of course) and there were many times when he had been unable to stop himself from sneezing.

"Well, you should probably take this first." Touko was quick to catch the mask thrown her way, the boy rummaging through the rest of his drawers until with a triumphant call, he pulled out a small pack. "And let me rush down for a second. I can get you some water for these."

It wasn't as if he would be missing a few hay fever tablets after all. Once the girl had been situated upon his bed, it was down to the elephant in the room.

"Well, I can't exactly just go and help you move a body. I don't think I'm that good of a liar to deal with it if we were seen." Kazuki reasoned, gently running his fingers along the grain of the wood of his desk. "But leaving it there could raise just as many questions… was the person dealt with in the usual manner."

"Yeah, the scissors are missing." The novelist declared, flinching with just the sentence. While realistically, the police would just continue with the investigations and get nowhere as they had so brilliant been doing until now, there was always the niggling feeling of being caught and naturally, who wanted to be an unwilling murderer every time they sneezed or saw blood?

"Have you tried getting rid of the tools?" the game developer suggested, immediately shot down.

"I don't know where _she_ gets them from…" Touko sighed, near collapsing into herself. "Are… are you sure you want to be around me?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm a killer, I'm ugly and I'm probably stinking up the room. Why would you want to be near me?" the boy had to sink slightly at the casual ease Touko produced the words with, gently wrapping the girl in his arms, a slight squeak escaping the novelist with the action.

"You're my friend. As long as you haven't plunged a pair of scissors into me, I will always search for a way to help you with this, just as you help me with my work. Just believe in me, okay?" he gently declared, a simple strangled noise escaping Touko in response.

A friend? Could she really call him a friend? Sure, they'd established a working relationship, and he was willing to help out even after her outing as the famous Genocider Jack, but full on friends?

"B-but we haven't talked about our private thoughts, gotten into an argument over it and then found something to bring us back together, linking us in a stronger fashion than ever…" Touko protested, a small chuckle escaping Kazuki as he released his grip.

"Well if you really want, I could tell you my deepest, darkest secret?" the game developer suggested, the writer leaning forward to hear the gentle whisper.

 _"I'm using this to plan the best way to kill you. BOO!"_

"H-hey! Don't joke with me!" leaning back into the pillows a chuckle, the boy gave an apologetic wave, looking to the cream ceiling hanging above.

"Sorry, but you don't need all of that to be a friend. All you need is to know you can place your full trust in them, know that they'll help you in the bad times and cheer for you in the good times. A friend will always be there to hold your burdens with you and do all they can to be at your side, never expecting much in return. They should never expect the same back, but they make you want to give it anyway. Now, tell me,"

"Am I your friend?"

* * *

 **Because that's what danganronpa is about, cheesy friendship! I'm sorry, the sale for the game means I've seen a lot more Ultra despair girls about, so might as well put in the friendship speech to honour the fact that I've taken away the honour of being Touko's first friend from Komaru. oh well. well, next time we get into more school hijinks, and maybe I'll get in some more interactions. I've still got to do so many characters just in class...**


	13. 13 - ready for returns?

**Yo ho, hello! So, just had the little holiday and we're going straight back in. I feel like I don't have the proper experience to be a good senior; for some strange reason, as soon as I got to my high school, everyone already knew my name and I kind of became a legend to the younger years without actually doing anything. Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Shirou, with an empress and kings by your side, fight on to survive!_

 _Shirou: Super High School Level game developer, work hard alongside gamers and imagination!_

 _Kazuki: You are a master of royalty... what does that mean for your title?_

 _Shirou: well, Mr. is short for Master after all..._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

The trek back into the school had been… interesting. He had managed to meet one of the new kids who had entered as part of the 78th class, another Super High School Level luck like Nagito – Makoto Naegi.

He was a rather calm boy, which was rare to find when looking to the population of Hope's Peak academy, rather average in features save for the ahoge pointing out of his brown mop of hair that seemed happy to bounce along with his every step. A dull green hoodie zipped all the way sat beneath his open black jacket dotted with gold buttons, finishing off with dark jeans and red shoes with white toes.

"So you're the Super High School Game Developer Kazuki?" the boy asked as they wandered down the street, Kazuki struggling to draw his eyes away the screen held in front of him as he gave an absent nod.

"Yeah, I even recently released a game. Ever heard of Armour-man?" the game developer asked, only taking a brief second to make sure that he wasn't about to be violently crushed by an incoming lorry before returning to his maintenance, a few small bugs being quickly fixed that had been ignored or undiscovered in the initial check. "I just sent out Armour-man Swap, but it already seems like it's a big hit with people."

"Ah! Komaru bought that game!" Makoto exclaimed after a small second, an awkward chuckle escaping him. "She's my sister and she's been raving about it ever since she's gotten it. Apparently it's one of the best you've done."

"I'm glad." The sigh of relief was quickly replaced with a small gasp of shock, a squeal slowly gaining in volume as the laptop was slammed shut, a hand reaching to grasp the boy's hoodie as a sharp pull had Makoto flying backwards, leaving Kazuki to be slammed into the pavement by the purple haired bullet.

"I'm so sorry! I was going to be late for school, so I was running, but then I trip- Kazuki!?" Mikan cried, looking down to the boy who gave a small cough, the taste of fabric not exactly nice within the mouth, as Makoto could only watch on in silence.

"Hey… Miss Tsumiki. You do know you're not late, right?" the green haired boy stated. "We… headed out early. We've still got… an hour before things start. Do you want to come with us? This is one of our new juniors, Makoto Naegi, the Super High School Luck."

The nurse was quick to leap to her feet, a deep bow given to the brown haired boy, much to his confusion. Wasn't he meant to be doing this to her? Didn't he have to go lower than that to show the proper respect? If he did though, he would probably be kissing the curb and that wasn't what he had planned on the first day… he didn't expect to be walking with one of his seniors in the first place though, only meeting him through sheer luck, so maybe all of his ideas were already out of the window.

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Mikan Tsumiki, the Super High School nurse!" Mikan exclaimed, rising her head out of the bow. "Um, I'm so sorry for intruding on you two… Someone must've messed with my clock… I'm terribly sorry…"

"It's okay Mikan. Everyone just has a bit of bad luck every now and then." Makoto replied, their walk begun anew with the addition of the nurse to their motley pair.

"So, Makoto, did you learn of any of your new classmates?" Kazuki enquired as he finally pressed the save button, a small breath of relief escaping him. "I know we have someone like the Super High School Level yakuza, but I heard you've got someone like a bousouzoku biker to deal with…"

"Bousouzoku biker?" Makoto parroted, a hand held to his chin. "Um, I haven't heard of any of the new Super High School Level students… Um, what is a bousouzoku biker?"

"Ah, I have a few of those who terrorise our home…" Mikan interjected, a small apologetic smile tugging at her face even when she was invited to speak further. "They were inspired by those western movies that came across, weren't they? So they have really strange hair, wear lots of leather and then go around with motorbikes defacing stuff and causing trouble. There was one time where they even went and put a whole bunch of graffiti on every single house!"

"And a person like that's in my class…?" the thought was slowly becoming all the more terrifying with the passing second. They would have to the best in the entire country to be considered for Hope's Peak, right? So that meant whoever was chosen for the biker position would've done a lot of stuff to prove himself as a better bousouzoku than all of the rest…

"Don't worry about it too much Makoto. If they plan on staying, then they'll have to keep themselves curbed." Kazuki reasoned, though his eyes did look to the sky for a second. "I'd hate to think what they would have to do for the exams though…"

"What do you mean?" Mikan turned to the Super high School Level luck with confusion glinting in her eyes; wasn't this meant to be explained to him before? "I thought they would have some sort of precaution that would mean they wouldn't disrupt the exams."

"Do you really not know what happens at Hope's Peak?" the nurse questioned, her hands quickly flying to her mouth as tears began to bead at the corners of her eyes. "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't meant to make you sound ignorant!"

"Don't worry about it." Makoto was quick to ease. "I was kind of a last minute choice; the person who was meant to be the Super High School Level luck originally ended up being unable to go and I was picked from a second lottery that I didn't enter, so I wasn't really able to read too much before I came here. I don't think I would even know where I'm meant to go if I didn't meet you and Kazuki…"

"Well, you've got a single end of year exam rather than multiple end of term exams for a start." Kazuki picked up. "And you're meant to demonstrate your talent to a panel of judges and an audience to see whether you can still be classed as the top. I'm sure you can get what that means for a biker… We're here!"

There was an unspoken awe to Makoto as he took his first steps onto the Hope's Peak academy campus, his head swivelling around as if it were to be never seen again in a few moments. He turned with a small bit of embarrassment at Kazuki's and Mikan's small chuckles and giggles, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry about that… I just never thought I would get into a place like this before." The brown haired boy said, the green haired boy giving a small shrug as he pulled the Crombie tighter around his shoulders.

"To be fair, you're the Lucky student picked from a whole tone of people. If I had those odds, I would've been the same way." Kazuki answered, a hand gently pushing Mikan towards their own classroom. "If you enter in there, the rest of your class will be either waiting or will be sent there. If you see the Super High School level writer, say hi for me!"

* * *

"Mr. Hinata!?" the boy was sitting proudly in his seat beside Chiaki, the class having a small shuffle around after they had first learnt of the interactions between the two and Kazuki. He had decided to remain in his reserve course uniform, out of lack of better choices (it had been hell with the guards that refused to let him through at first glance) but there was a new life to him that didn't seem present in the dreary atmosphere of the reserve building.

"Hey Kazuki. Looks like we'll be sharing a class after all." The boy quipped with a smile, Chiaki far too involved in the sleek new console before her to even notice whether she was in the right room or not. "My new designation is Hajime Hinata, the Super High School level concept creator. They had me briefly work with a few different topics and come with various ideas to implement. If you see a new type of vacuum cleaner, that was me. I even helped out with some of the ideas for the console Chiaki's playing with."

"Ah, I recently discovered that! I didn't know much about it at first, but I thought giving them my Armour-man Swap as a day one game would help with the sales." Kazuki remarked, looking to the screen to see that indeed, the handheld was running his game, and perfectly at that. "A Super high School Level concept creator… That's definitely a title. It could get you into many sectors of industry."

"Well, it was better than the title given to me using the new designations." Hajime commented, a small sigh escaping him. "Under that, I'm the Ultimate Imagination. It kind of makes me sound like some sort of hyped up kid."

"New designation?" Kazuki parroted, the boy giving a nod in response.

"Apparently it better represents the fact that 'these people are the highest level one can achieve in a given field.' It just really ends up making things a little different and honestly, make things a little more sane." Hajime whispered in a conspiratorial voice. "After all, the Ultimate fanfic creator is classed as the Super High School Level Doujin author, which would no doubt get horrified reactions come exam time and the Super high School level heir became the Ultimate affluent progeny for when he can't be classed as an heir anymore."

"Well when you put it that way, it does make sense…" Kazuki reasoned, throwing his bag and coat around the back of his chair. "Miss Nanami I'm guessing that you're happy then?"

 _ **LEGEND ONE MIX!**_

 _ **LEGEND TWO MIX!**_

" _ **Let's mix it –Armour- up!"**_

 _ **FUSION UP! RELIGION! GATE! SWAP LEGEND – KEY!**_

" _ **When we unite with the power of a legend Armour, we can fight! Swap – Armour-man!"**_

"EH!? But that stuff's meant to be locked until the end game, where all of the other past Armour-men give Swap the ability to take no their powers! I thought that was a good twenty hours in!" Kazuki moaned, a brief look spared his way before Chiaki continued to pummel away at her opponent.

"It was easy enough. I just didn't sleep and there was no need to pause." The pink haired girl remarked casually, a small sweat drop falling down both Hajime's and Kazuki's faces.

"Miss Nanami, Please don't do that when you have school coming up…"

"Well, she wouldn't be Chiaki if she didn't, right?"

"Hey, Hey, Kazuki! You know how Ibuki thinks you're so adorable, right? Can I bite you?"

The question from the Super High School Level light music club member was completely out of nowhere, the green haired boy giving a small jump a the sudden voice at the side of his ear.

"Miss Mioda…?" he began, failing to find a proper way to ask the question without offending the girl until Sonia interjected.

"You see, she seems to be fascinated with the idea of biting someone in order to stimulate them. I cannot see where she would get such an idea from though… is it something unique to japan?" the Super high School level princess wondered aloud, Kazuki just giving a weak shrug to Ibuki, who gave a happy sound before chomping down on his arm, a small flash having the boy rubbing his eyes with his free appendage.

"Perfect! Looks like this is going into my special album!" Mahiru happily declared, looking in satisfaction at the small screen in front of her, a sound Hajime struggled to define escaping Kazuki."

"…You know, this isn't as bad as I thought it would be." The boy mused, looking to the eyes that cheerfully peered back at him, the girl's mouth obviously full of his flesh to properly speak.

"Oh great, we've got a sadist in the class." Hiyoko sighed with a roll of the eyes, slumping in her seat as a few gummies fell into her mouth from the now empty packet. "And do I need to go into how weird it is for Ibuki to like biting people? Maybe if you do anything wrong, I'll spread the news that Ibuki's been having you inside her mouth!"

There was a phrase that came to mind then, one that he had heard off of an American TV show when he had been on holiday and it was just the thing he needed. Thanks to it being in English, most of them probably wouldn't know what it meant and he could still say it and not get in trouble for it!

"Miss Saionji?"

"What do you want?"

" _Bite me._ Ow! Miss Mioda!"

" _Heh, I know English too!"_

Yep. Things were still the same, even if it wasn't Chisa who walked through the door.

* * *

"Hey Ryota, do you have any issues with getting people to voice your work?" Kazuki asked as he sat beside the heavy teen, a small second drawn away from his digital canvas to think before the pen started flying about once more.

"Well, I guess I haven't really thought of getting someone to voice my stuff." Ryota replied, an appraising eye passing over the frame before he passed onto the next one. "Most of my time is spent doing silent animations or with simple music, so I've never really needed it. You'll be surprised how much you can say without words."

"That's true. I mean, there are a few cases when I experimented with a speechless game, but it usually gets a bit more niche when I do that. I mean, there's pure text boxes, but that isn't the same effect." Kazuki remarked, the main core of his next project prepared. With the generic skeleton in place, he could simply improve without needing to write out the entire code, making sure that everything fits properly. He wasn't planning to have a dual transformation item this time, so he couldn't use the belt code exactly…

"Apart from the whole action theme, do you have a favourite genre, Kazuki?" the blond animator asked, two more frames completed in what seemed to be no time at all, the game developer pausing in his actions. "After all, while I do have a fair bit of variety to my work, I do enjoy slice of life the best."

"Well, I've never really thought of anything in specific. I guess I just go with whatever I felt like doing and placed my all into that, save for the Armour-man series." The boy answered, flicking his finger back and forth absently as he spoke. "I do happen to enjoy… fantasy, definitely. It allows you to do so much, have things impossible to comprehend act as common place, let people be who they want to be in ways that they could never hope to achieve in reality, but that's really what you do in all games."

"I suppose that's one of the small advantages of videogames over animation, isn't it?" Ryota mused, his pen completely stopped in its motions at Kazuki's sound of confusion.

"In animation, you provide the viewer a window into someone else's life, someone who gets into scenarios that are entertaining, or mystifying, or simply more interesting than your own. You suck people in with beauty, with combat, with misery and they stay to see what happens to that person, how they interact and what sort of events happen to them.

With video games though, you fully become another person, immersing yourself in their entire personality. Even when they are given a set style of speech, emotions and way of acting, you still take on their mantle, become them and experience their life as if it were your own."

There was a sense of experience to Ryota's voice, almost bordering on reminiscence, but it did little to take away from the truth of his words.

"Yeah. There's always going to be something special about controlling the actions of a character like it was you. There are those who will like it for all the wrong reasons, like for the joy of controlling someone, or those who like seeing just how many ways they can kill a single character, but the main appeal remains in that they aren't acting as themselves. They fully become someone else and experience another world with the same ease as if it were their own. That's probably why you like Slice of life I'm guessing. For you, it's easier to get yourself immersed if it isn't too outlandish, while I love thinking that there are worlds where I can be stronger through alternate means."

They were perfectly content with continuing their work in silence, each having their own pieces to continue working with. By the time the sun had set, they had made far more conversation than they had expected, even with the great amount of work they had managed to complete as Kazuki stretched out along the bench with a yawn.

"Well, I should probably get back to my dorm and get this thing back to charging." The game developer announced, helping Ryota from his place upon the ground. "I'm glad we had the time to talk. I don't think I've had such a chat with anyone else."

"If you ever feel the need to talk like this again, I'll always be open to it." Ryota applied with a small smile, wandering off to the old dorms. Kazuki didn't think they were still in use, but there was apparently one person sleeping there. From what he heard, they weren't in the best of conditions, but maybe there was something there that made Ryota feel at home or something.

Oh well, it wasn't as if it was his business to pry into.

* * *

 **And that's it for now! I wanted to get Ryota's little time in because, you know, it's him. He never really did get too much characterisation in game other than the fact that he was able to copy Byakuya Togami pretty well, for a fat guy. Now, we've got a whole new year to play around with and I know that things have a chance to develop!**


	14. 14 - ready for motion capture?

**Hello there everybody! This technically could be a fanservice chapter.. if I actually knew how to properly write fanservice. Oh well, if you really feel the urge, I'm sure there's a whole bunch of _those_ images you could use if you wanted help. A little news warning - there's an incredibly high probability of me being unable to post anything for the next two weeks. so sorry about that! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Shirou, summon a servant formed from souls! The terror of White-chapel arrives!_

 _Shirou: Kazuki, you better capture all of that glorious motion! a dragon and his sword versus the game developer!_

 _Kazuki: I could really go for some congee with soy clams... that sounds delicious!_

 _Shirou: Why don't you just ask for the assistance of the Super High School Level chef then? Simple!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

"This is surprisingly lax… I thought there would be a little more… education going on." Hajime remarked as he went wild with his pencil, scribbling down any old thought that came to his head. Random lines jutted out through various scrapped concepts, Kazuki watching in interest as the brown haired boy got to work without ever looking like he was even working.

"Well, I thought you would've heard about it before, seeing as you're only in the other building. The game developer replied, watching the cinematic cutscene play out before him. Sure, it didn't have a proper background yet, but the actual motion itself was coming along well, a fierce battle between the new character against one of the first bosses he came across. "Even the lessons themselves are optional, we're just staying all together in order to pay our respects to our teacher's wishes. Well I say that, but I think everyone's finally warmed up to the idea of coming to lessons."

Chiaki of course, was only paying half a mind as she gave a small sigh, complete number nine done for the Streets of Fury. The gameplay itself was alright as long as you were interested in side scroller beat em ups, nothing too special. The gamer girl had chosen it on a whim, a strange urge to beat something up that morning and she had yet to stop.

"The teamwork is amazing. No one's going solo anymore." Chiaki whispered, a smile teasing its way onto her face with little resistance. "We're making real progress; a flag's definitely going to get triggered."

A small gasp escaped Kazuki, the pink haired girl turning to the boy as he rapidly abused his keyboard, a sigh of relief escaping him as he slumped down in his seat.

"I was wondering what I was forgetting!" Kazuki exclaimed, pulling himself back up in place. "I was so busy trying to get the cutscene complete that I managed to forget to make it actually accessible. There would've been a brilliant cutscene waiting for the player, but no way for them to actually get to it! Thanks Miss Nanami!"

"No problem." Watching the small exchange, they turned at Hajime's small chuckle, the laughter only growing at the similar head tilts.

"You two really are quite similar, aren't you?" the boy remarked, Kazuki giving a shrug after a second's hesitation.

"Well, it's not like it's a bad thing. Miss Nanami is a really nice girl." Kazuki reasoned, turning back to his work and it was only the hand that blocked his lips that prevented the laughs at Chiaki's expression. Even the fist to his side wasn't good enough to get him to stop.

"I thought you were on my side…"

"I am. After all, this would be perfect for you too!"

* * *

"You… want me to show off?"

"If that isn't too much Miss Pekoyama. My new character uses a katana to fight and seeing as it's a game and the character's female, I was wondering if you would be able to do some swordplay for me." Kazuki requested with a small bow. The girl in question wasn't really sure how to respond, the request coming quite suddenly during the lunch break as she was sitting in the classroom, empty of quite a good amount of students.

She had obviously handled a real katana before, with great skill able to best many men and mercenaries, but never had anyone ever asked her to… boast with her talent. Sure, the Kuzuryuu group had been eager to ward off any competitors with the knowledge that they held the Super High School Level swordswoman alongside the Super High School Level yakuza, but they had never had a need to show off with a sword.

When you fought in battle, every second meant another second living, and a second less for your enemies. When they held bullets against your blade, you couldn't afford to go around flashing your sword like a demented wand, so while she had every reason to be capable of it, the idea just never came as more than an insult to her opponents.

"… I suppose I can…" Peko eventually conceded, watching without response as a twinkle entered Kazuki's eyes.

"Are you certain? That's amazing!" he declared brightly, bowing far deeper than the grey haired girl would've appreciated, the boy was quick to usher Peko towards the pools, an eyebrow raising in unvoiced confusion.

"Ah, my apologies, but I'm going to have to ask you to wear something specific for this to work. It shouldn't interrupt your movements, so don't worry about that." Kazuki reassured, but her stomach still sank. So she was being pulled along by a far too eager boy into the changing rooms to wear something she had no idea about, all the while showing off for something that could eventually reach the public?

Why the hell was she still going with him?

"Oi, Peko, Kazuki? Where are you two going?" Fuyuhiko called as he saw the two pass him, both pausing in their step.

"Ah, did you want her Mr K- Fuyuhiko?" Kazuki asked, a small gulp having him quickly change the name before the boy could do anything with the warning look. "If you want her, I can wait."

"He wishes for me to demonstrate sword fighting for his game young master. We were to go to the changing rooms first for some garments Kazuki has prepared." Peko explained with a succinct tone, the blonde Yakuza giving a sigh as he scratched the back of his neck.

"What did I tell you about calling me that Peko?" Fuyuhiko sighed, Peko inclining her head in silent apology. "Well, I ain't going to stop you; do whatever the hell you want."

"Do you want to join us?" Kazuki offered in counter, Fuyuhiko letting the hat above his head hover as he turned with a small sound of confusion. "I mean, you and Miss Pekoyama are good friends, so I don't want to separate you if I interrupted something. You always eat lunch together, right?"

It wasn't as if it was false. Turning on the heel of his foot, Kazuki watched as the boy shoved his hands in his pockets, walking onward as he held up a hand.

"Well? You were going to the changing rooms for whatever fucking reason, right?" the Yakuza prompted, Peko quick to match his pace, leaving the game developer to rush behind them a small sweat drop falling down his face.

"Miss Pekoyama, Fuyuhiko… you do realise I'm the one who has what the garbs, right?"

* * *

"Hey Kazuki… what the fuck are you making her wear!?" Fuyuhiko roared as soon as Peko stepped out of the small booth, pulling awkwardly at the spandex that covered her body, Kazuki letting out an awkward chuckle. He had never really paid too much attention to it considering that Teruteru often went after anything on two legs, but with the spandex designed to stretch to the right proportions, it was a perfect view of how well built the grey haired sword woman was, to say nothing about other areas. The black saw fit to try and get as close as possible, hugging every curve and edge of the girl's body.

"Well, you see, we need it to be close to the body so we can properly track every single aspect of her body Fuyuhiko." Kazuki quickly explained, hands held in a futile defence; he wasn't too sure of whether his palms would stop lead shot at high velocities. "All of those little white ball things attached to the suit are meant to track where her joints are major body silhouette is; here, I'll show you."

A small growl escaped the Super High School Level yakuza as he followed along after both Kazuki and Pekoyama. While he was pretty certain that there wasn't anyone using the swimming pools at the moment, that didn't mean some weird ass student couldn't come walking in and see Peko in that monstrosity of a suit. Fortunately, a good glare would be enough to scare anyone off, but no one had appeared. A shame, really.

"When they built the changing rooms, they wanted to put anything that might require them fairly close together in order to save on money that would be spent constructing additional rooms." Kazuki explained, pushing the large door wide and spreading his arms with a small smile, both Peko and Fuyuhiko looking around the grey concrete in intrigue. The various cameras hung at different corners were primed to shoot, a wide open space held within their visual grasp as a complex computer set up lay in its wires at the side, a set up Kazuki eagerly made his way to.

"This set up makes what basically sums up to be a cube of space you can record and then with the recording, you can make the models work off of the image. So, I have my game character model and because the various markers will map the light reflected off of the markers and not Miss Pekoyama herself, I can replace every part with my character, meaning that they'll do anything Miss Pekoyama does!" Kazuki explained, Fuyuhiko giving a small scoff at the exuberance practically oozing off of the game developer as he spoke.

"So basically, you get to have a recording of Peko's skills that you can put onto your game person and you just gotta have her do some fancy shit?" Fuyuhiko summarised, a small chuckle escaping him. "Well then Peko, I guess you've just gotta show why you're the Super High School Level swordswoman, right?"

"Understood." As soon as he gave the command, the shinai was sent into beautiful motion, arcing through the air as an invisible enemy ducked the side, just narrowly avoiding the steel that threatened to slice open his face. It was no longer a studio she was stood in, but an arena, a duelling strip sat in front of her as she demonstrated her skills all those years. The Kuzuryuu didn't want someone who wasn't able to fight, so they had gotten a combination of duellists and proper fighters to challenger her swordsmanship, using whatever they felt like no matter the lethality. That shinai had taken down heads, grunts and assassins in equal blood and even if she didn't personally see the point of it, there were times where they had her entered into combat scenarios like competitions in order to get her acknowledged as the greatest of her kind.

Fuyuhiko didn't want to draw his eyes away from the violent dance before him, a song of steel and torn flesh playing out upon an imaginary battlefield. He had seen the true effects of what that shinai was able to do, and the very same thing multiplied exponentially as soon as a proper katana was placed in her hand. though he disliked it, there was no escaping the fact that he was going to have to handle a gun, and that still wouldn't give him a single advantage over Peko in combat.

Kazuki however, was much more interested in the strange figure dancing about upon his screen. It wasn't that hard to imagine his own character battling demons with that sort of combat style; in fact, the specific sort of violent efficiency was exactly what he had envisioned as soon as the original concept had presented itself to him. A soldier scorned, killed by a bullet to the back rather than the enemies in a unacceptable fashion. Now brought back with a second chance, he would sacrifice his new life for the sake of others, so that no one should meet their end before they had to.

After a flamboyant finish, Pekoyama stood panting as she flicked the blade down to her side, remnants of imaginary blood flying off of the smooth edge as the recording stopped, the red eyes behind glasses only opening at Kazuki's enthusiastic clapping.

"Well shit, that was amazing Peko." Fuyuhiko commented, clapping with only a small bit less enthusiasm. "I mean, it's not like I didn't know you could do it, but seeing it happen is still really cool."

"Absolutely! That was amazing Miss Pekoyama!" Kazuki added, Peko bristling under the attention, she had never been too fond of the idea of having people praise her for her actions; it was a duty served to those who had taken her in in her abandonment, and usually it was only Fuyuhiko who did it.

"It is no big matter. I hope I could do enough for your usage." The Super High School Level swordswoman declared, the game developer giving a thumbs up from his computer.

"It was brilliant! Now, I suppose you two are going to have your private time, right?" Fuyuhiko choked as soon as the words came out of the green haired boy's mouth, turning to him with a fist clenched in preparation.

"Oi, what the hell do you mean by that!?" he questioned, an intense pain promised in his eyes if a single part of the coming answer was wrong in any sort of fashion, Pekoyama quick to return to the changing rooms. She didn't really want to remain in those clothes for any longer than she actually needed to be.

"Well, Miss Saionji was telling me about how you two are together, and none of the other students actually argued against it, so I thought that there had to be some form of truth to it." Kazuki reasoned, taking a step back. "So I'm guessing that I'm wrong with that, huh…?"

"We're just friends. Don't think anything otherwise." Fuyuhiko warned, turning away with various mutterings that Kazuki wasn't so sure he wanted to know what they meant. A small smile blossomed upon his face as Kazuki took back to the computer, watching the different battle animations as it almost switched back to Pekoyama. It certainly didn't seem difficult and maybe that wasn't as ignorable as it should've been.

Peko had a sort of mothering hold over the students, the female side at the very least. While Chiaki acted as a sister, getting close to each of them and doing all she could to help with a sleepy smile, Pekoyama would do all of the behind the scenes stuff, helping because she felt as if she had a duty to when others couldn't.

"Everyone's definitely getting along better than they would've probably if Chisa hadn't assisted…" Kazuki mused as he took the USB back to his room. "Without her, I don't think half of the class would be there."

He had been trying his best to get to know the majority of the class and it felt like he was getting somewhere. Of course, there were those who he had yet to properly speak with, like Nekomaru and Akane among others, but he had made good progress. And now there was whole other year to get to know; at least he kind of had a head start on those.

* * *

"Ah, sorry about that…"

"Makoto, making friends?" Kazuki commented as he watched the two girls approach from behind the brown haired boy, a small apologetic mumble escaping the Super High School Level luck, or was it ultimate lucky student? That sounded like it could be anyone in the school that had gotten lucky though…

"Oh, I should introduce you! Kyoko, Mukuro, this is Kazuki Hiraku. He's the ultimate game maker. Kazuki, this is Kyoko Kirigiri and Mukuro Ikusaba. They're the ultimate soldier and Detective! Oh, I mean that the other way round… as for Super High School designations… Um…"

"We hold the same titles in both designations." Kyoko concluded for him, a clearly visible sigh of relief escaping the luckster. The detective wore the school uniform just like Mukuro, except where the soldier wore the usual brown jacket as assigned by the school, Kyoko had chosen a purple jacket left loose upon her, black gloves covering her hands revealing themselves as she corrected the lilac strands that flowed long behind her, unlike Mukuro's short cut black hair.

"Well it's nice to see that you're getting along well. It took a bit for our class to really get strong." Kazuki answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what are you doing?"

His answer came in the vibrant yells that came down the hallway, followed by another authoritarian tone that echoed after him, traces of a weak objection floating along afterward.

"Um, we kind of have someone trying to run away." Makoto weakly explained. "It's the Bousouzoku biker guy, his name's Mondo. Apparently he doesn't want to stick around if he doesn't want to and the ultimate moral compass, Kiyotaka, is trying to rein him in. I don't think he'll be able to do it himself though…"

"I shouldn't really be keeping you here any longer then, should I?" Kazuki replied as he stepped to the side, Kyoko and Makoto quick to take his offer with the boy yelling a thanks as he sprinted down the corridor, leaving the Super High School Level game developer to turn to the soldier still standing, her grey gaze locked onto his eyes.

"Do you know the truth?" she muttered, a deathly silence following.

"Excuse me?"

"…I see that you don't." Mukuro whispered, a sharp glare softening in a second. "I hope I didn't hold you from anything."

"Oh no worries!" but she was already gone, an incredibly fast sprint having her no doubt reach the other two in record time, Kazuki just giving the scene a small questioning sound before he continued his journey back to his room. So maybe things weren't exactly going perfectly well, but they were already putting in a team effort to try and get the class together instead of having someone else do it for them. A-star for effort!

Well, I better get about to rigging the model anyway. With these animations, it's definitely going to be amazing to watch, as long as I can keep up with actually making the gameplay…" the boy sighed, slapping his face.

It was time to get crazy!

* * *

 **Let's pause things right there for now! So, um, sorry if it seems a little strangely paced - I swear I'm trying to get that fixed, but I need your feedback to do that. We've got a whole new year to introduce to you, so what will come of that? Does the soldier have anything planned for the boy who creates? Is there a reason as to why Chihiro is put on the description? Well you're just going to have to wait a bit to find out!**


	15. 15 - ready for recordings?

**Welcome back people! so, I've been gone for a bit, but we're back at full force and ready to meet new people, but first, I would like to speak to you about something to do with my two week absence.**

 **So, I've been unable to write for two weeks because I've been participating in what is called the NCS (National Citizenship Service) which is operated in Britain. two weeks are spent at an outdoor centre camping and at a Uni respectively, while the next two weeks (the week which has just past and this coming one) will be spent doing an action project with the team you've been placed in. I'm team 6 (officially. We're actually team Tag along... I'm proud of it) and our project is Bridging the Generation Gap.**

 **The elderly are becoming more afraid of the younger generation by the day and we aim to change their opinion on us young people. We want to achieve this by visiting independent living accommodations and building a bond with the elderly to show them that we aren't as bad as they may think. We will be spending 4 days with them and during our time we will be doing various activities with them such as painting. We care about the older generation because they are still human beings who enjoy people's company just as much as we do. Therefore, we are raising awareness for the older generations to show that we know they are there and we want to make them feel a part of the community. The young have the ability, but lack the wisdom, and the old have the wisdom, but lack the ability. We want to get them involved!**

 **But I was hoping that you could like two pages for me: an instagram page called and a facebook page called NCS team 6 -bridging the generation gap. if you could do that, it would mean the world to us and it's fairly simple, right? Let's go to the awkward part.**

 **We also have a JustGiving page called (this is a mouthful) We're raising £200 to help fund our NCS project to bridge the gap between the young and old generation. The money will go towards helping the elderly(or alternately, bridge that gap). if you could maybe think of adding to that, it would be absolutely magical! any money gathered would go directly to supporting the elderly we visit. Anyway, now that's done with, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Shirou, you better make sure not to upset the Taiga or the tree!_

 _Shirou: Binaural recording... seems a little strange, but the effects are crazy!_

 _Kazuki: Maybe if you're lucky, I'll give you a go at the game first!_

 _Shirou: That would be great! ... wait, did you call Sakura a tree?_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

When Sayaka walked in on Kazuki messing around with what appeared to be someone's head, the Super High School Level idol, or as her secondary designation would have her, the Ultimate pop sensation, had thought herself crazy. When after several blinks, Kazuki was indeed still messing about with the head, there was no stopping the blue haired singer.

"Um, Kazuki? What are you doing?" Sayaka hesitantly enquired, the Super High School Level game developer raising his head at the question before turning around in surprise.

"Oh, hey Miss Maizono!" the green haired boy greeted, tugging at his Crombie. "Is it the head? People usually get a bit weirded out by the head. Come closer, maybe I can make it seem a little bit more understandable."

Upon further observation, the head was indeed merely a decorated mannequin detached from a body upon a table. Unlike its original intention, where the Super High School Level hairdresser had requested something a slight more willing to participate in his experiments, this one was sat between two microphones apparently aimed directly towards it, even though it was incapable of producing sound.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of binaural audio?" Kazuki began, receiving a shake of the head in response. "Well, when people speak, they're not always at the side of your head or in front of you, as headphones and speakers would normally do. They are everywhere, at different distances and never really in the exact same place unless it is the same speaker. What this little set up means is that we can simulate a person and their ears, meaning that if we move about the studio, we can mimic if someone was, for example, walking around you, or give a better example of many people speaking around you, close or far away."

Throughout his explanation, Sayaka had to dodge the boy's erratic pacing, moves sometimes making him look as if he wasn't even talking to the girl as he darted about, back and forth. There were times where he came so close to the mic, she was afraid he was about to swallow it, others making him appear as if he was about to walk out of the studio.

"Oh, I think I've heard of that…" Sayaka remarked with a finger to her cheek. "there was a time where I was playing a horror game and I thought it was one of my friends talking behind me, only to see the great big monster there!" with a click of his fingers, Kazuki let a small laugh escape him.

"Yes, that's it exactly!" the boy cheered, handing over a pair of headphones. "Here, give it a try and tell me what you think. Sit down on this chair and no matter what, don't move. You can turn, but you can't leave that chair or open your eyes until it's done."

Well, with instructions like that, it was rather intimidating as she sat down upon the chair he had gracefully slid out. All alone in the studio, it would be a little strange to have her eyes closed and unable to move, but it would only be a little thing to have faith in her senior, right?"

" _Tell me, have you ever heard of binaural audio? Well, when people speak, they're not always at the side of your head or in front of you, as headphones and speakers would normally do."_

Those two sentences already had her giving an intake of breath, holding a hand to the side of her head.

"That was way too close for my liking!" the girl gently whined. If Kazuki were to say that he had yet to turn on the recording and he had simply spoke that in her ear, then moved to face her, Sayaka would be struggling to not believe him.

"Please, stick with it. It gets a bit more interesting." Kazuki politely requested, the idol taking a deep breath as Kazuki pressed play once more, the rest of the studio blocked out for a second time.

" _They are everywhere, at different distances and never really in the exact same place unless it is the same speaker."_

Sayaka couldn't help it when she turned her head behind her, only to quickly swivel her head to the right, trying fruitlessly to follow the movement of the voice. Kazuki was always a second faster than she was though, speaking from far away and circling her, like a predator that had just found their next meal.

" _What this little set up means is that we can simulate a person and their ears, meaning that if we move about the studio, we can mimic if someone was, for example, walking around you, or give a better example of many people speaking around you, close or far away."_

There should've been the sound of footsteps, but somehow, they had completely disappeared. So how was he moving back and forth so bloody fast!? First, he was tickling Sayaka's ear, then the idol was straining to turn behind her, only to hear a voice almost as if he was coming to kiss her, before quickly backing away to stand at a reasonable distance as he concluded. Catching the thrown headphones with only a little difficulty, Kazuki had to give a small sweatdrop at the way the girl slouched in her seat, trembling slightly.

"Miss Maizono, don't make it look like I just tried to do terrible things to you." The green haired boy deadpanned, returning the headphones to their original place. "What I wanted to do was have various people act like voices in someone's head, circling around, being at different places, but being unseen in game. They would give biting remarks, random praises, all sorts of things to try and confuse, annoy and guide the player."

"Oh… that seems like it would be cool! A little terrifying too." Sayaka cheerfully answered after regaining her bearings, standing from her seat. "Is there a way I could help with that?"

"Well, I was looking around my class, but I don't think there's anyone I could ask that would be suitably mysterious, or dark toned, unless I ask one person… but I've already asked them to do something, so I can't really make them do more." Kazuki explained. "Do you know anyone who would be able to act as a dark and mysterious voice in the head, comforting, spooky, whatever you want."

There was a moment of deliberation before the pop sensation suddenly perked up, a burst of inspiration having her clap her hands.

"Well I could get a few of my classmates! I'm sure they'll be happy to help out." Sayaka joyfully stated. "You know one of them, Kyoko Kirigiri?"

"Oh, did she speak of me?" Kazuki replied, the girl tapping the side of her head with a small smile tickling her lips.

"Nope! I'm psychic!" she stated. "Just kidding! I have good intuition!"

* * *

When he met the second girl Sayaka had suggested, he certainly hadn't been expecting what had appeared. Dressed in a dark dress with a blood red tie, two curls of pure black coming down in drills from the side of her head, the girl gave every impression of a real life vampire, even down to the crimson eyes and pale skin. The way she tapped a single silver claw against her flesh was more than enough to illicit a gulp from Kazuki. This was Celestia Ludenberg, the girl titled as the Ultimate gambler.

"Well, it certainly is a pleasure to speak with my senior." The pale girl elegantly greeted, a serene smile present upon her face. "Might I ask what I was invited to do here?"

"Seeing as we have the other two here now, we'll be able to go in and I can show you." Kazuki answered, gratefully waving at the cautiously approaching Kyoko and Mukuro.

"We were told to come here so we could whisper strange things. I don't believe that Sayaka elaborated properly." The violet haired detective deadpanned, crossing her arms as she turned to the game developer, ready to fall from his standing position.

"Well, I can't exactly say she was wrong, but when it's phrased like that…" Kazuki sighed, motioning to the open door. "Come into the studio. There shouldn't be any one else who's booked the place, so we should be alone in there."

He couldn't avoid seeing the way that Mukuro tensed p at the idea, probably the remnants of her job as the Super High School Level soldier making her search for every possible danger available to her. He didn't recall there ever being news of her participating in a war of sorts, but there was only so many ways you could get recognised as the ultimate soldier…

" _Do you know the truth?" she muttered, a deathly silence following._

" _Excuse me?"_

"… _I see that you don't." Mukuro whispered, a sharp glare softening in a second. "I hope I didn't hold you from anything."_

'What was that about?' the boy mentally mused as he ran the girls through what he expected of them, Celestia keeping the serene smile throughout. Even the other two, who had been specifically suggested to him by Sayaka for being mysterious and cold, showed more of a reaction, but the gambler was more than content with simply waiting without a movement. 'What could she care about that I would know the truth of? She was related to the potential Super High School Level supermodel, but I had only been there to witness her end… unless…'

Maybe there was something he was missing here. Perhaps there was a bigger story to tell here, but for the life of him, he just couldn't find it. Was the accident that had resulted in the girl's unfortunate death somehow not an accident? Did… Mukuro have a part in it?

'No, get the stupid ideas out of your head!' Kazuki scolded in his mind, quickly telling Kyoko to move back as she tauntingly spoke of how there was no way the player could continue onward. With the direct tone she had, the clinical way of speaking, she truly did seem like she was scolding someone for stupidity. She held a voice that one could not ignore, whether it be for good or bad, every praise and criticism stuck.

"There is little chance of you getting out of this alive. All you can do is run, run or risk your life and lose it." The detective whispered, little hesitation in getting close to the right ear as she spoke. "You are a detective. Your job isn't to risk yourself, it's to find the truth. You can do that without fighting."

Standing further behind to the left, Celestia let out a small giggle, her teasing tones falling melodically against the gently harshness of Kyoko without a single need to change from her usual voice.

"But what is life without a risk, a gamble?" Celestia suggested, stepping around without a sound. "They are titans against you, but the tallest towers fall just as heavy as the others. They hold the answers you want, they'll be terrorising people while you cower away, the only one able to stop them. Take the risk. Embrace it. Let your luck decide the victor."

"If you dive to the right, then you die. If you move to the left, you'll probably die. Your best bet is to move forward and strike without hesitation. They do not strike now for they believe you are weak; kill them before they even have the chance to regret their actions." Mukuro coldly ordered, standing without a care for the world, yet it was clear in those grey orbs. When she had first requested a look at how things would be set up in game, Kazuki had taken it for intrigue, but when she then requested ideas of the way they would react and personality, maybe it should've become clearer.

She wasn't asking out of interest; a soldier wouldn't be inquiring about the enemies day after all. She was trying to figure out the best way to kill every monster, how to use whatever abilities they had against each other and deal with the conflict in the most efficient way possible. It was strange seeing such thought patterns being placed against fictional creatures, but he had no doubts that they would prove to be more than sufficient. If he programmed it so that technique actually did work, then maybe…

Then there was a detective. Where one would look to defeat, the other would look to survive. Taking all of the evidence presented to her, she would survey the surroundings and find the most logically sound conclusion. In a world that didn't really make any sort of logical sense, it's only natural to think such an outlook could be misleading or limited, but it could always inject a sense of familiarity that people need.

Add in a gambler and it was a mix of strange messages. A gambler reacted with cold professional abilities, but those abilities were tied to being able to manipulate the human mind. Showing emotions in a specific way, phrasing words and speaking them in a practiced manner, showing your hand in a way that made it appear as if they were completely different… it made for an 'emotional' voice to counter the more stoic and direct whispers. It would definitely be suitable for confusion and guidance.

* * *

"Well, was that what you wanted of us?" Celestia commented, drawing Kazuki out of his thoughts with a small chuckle. "Perhaps you were entranced with our performance? Perhaps you want us to do something similar to you?"

"Celestia, we shouldn't bother him any more than necessary." Kyoko stated, turning away immediately after an appraising look. "Besides, we cannot be sure that was all he wanted from us in the first place. After all, he wishes to make this an entire game, does he not? To do so for the entirety of a proper time period would surely require much more audio than that."

"That is true, but if you don't want to, we can quit here. I'm sure you need to get back to your classroom anyway. The rest of your friends are probably waiting for your return." Kazuki suggested, a teasing smile appearing on the face of the Super High School Level gambler as she flicked her claw against Mukuro's chin, the tenseness easily seen upon the soldiers face as she did so.

"Oh, I'm sure no one will be waiting for me." Celestia easily dismissed, the pleasant smile upon her face hiding a sugared poison within. "But these two are certainly being missed right now. How do you think little Makoto is dealing without you? He certainly is cute when he doesn't have you two around to keep him on the straight and narrow."

Without another word, the girl's crimson heels were clicking against the floor, Kyoko dashing off to meet her in as little time as possible, most likely to keep her from doing something dangerous to the poor Super High School Level luck. Mukuro however, remained behind, a serious stance that had Kazuki taking a slight step back.

"I… must apologise for the question I asked before. Perhaps it was a little too strange." It was clear that she didn't like to do this sort of thing, nor was she used to having to do so in the first place. He supposed that having spent your time fighting against people, battling to keep the people safe, you weren't really used to apologising when questioning; let's say that there's usually a very good reason why that person is getting questioned.

"You mean about whether I 'knew the truth?' That's fine. I can't blame you for being serious about your secrets Miss Ikusaba." Kazuki dismissed, the girl's stoic face thrown a bit. Yep, definitely hadn't been expecting an answer like that. "After all, I'm a game developer. We have our secrets leaked all of the time, running great surprises, important plot twists and even games in their entirety. It's heart breaking to know that your secrets are out and everybody knows about them, because you have to act as if they're either not true, or that the surprise is still there. I can only dream of what secrets a soldier might have; they'll no doubt be more serious than I could ever imagine."

She was left in astonished silence, a stoic visage attempting to return. Very few had ever tried to say that in a good way, many people dismissing her job as a killer, that the only secrets she would have was how much blood she had on her hands. Regardless of whether there was truth to their words, there had only been a couple that respected that sort of thing, and never had they used such a way to sympathise.

"…Thank you. It is reassuring to hear that." The soldier stated, turning with a swift movement. "I hope that my work is of the right standard?"

It was weird, Kazuki thought, hearing that from a junior. It was as if he had suddenly been made a commander and she was asking him whether she had executed all of her orders correctly. It kind of was, seeing as he was the one directing her during her recording, but it still wasn't anything he was expecting. Rubbing the back of his neck, Kazuki gave the friendliest smile he could.

"It was more than amazing! This is going to be great!" Kazuki cheerfully answered, rapidly tapping away at his computer. "So, when do you think the three of you will be available to do another load of recordings? I don't think I can stop here at all!"

Mukuro couldn't help the small smile that escaped her. Very rarely did she ever find the chance to smile, but she had been catching herself doing so in this school far more than she would've expected. The sheer exuberance that was falling off of Kazuki though was more than enough to pay for the small quirk of the lips, the girl walking off with a simple answer.

"Call and we shall be there. I shall make it so."

* * *

 **And that's it for now! Next time, we explore an idea I hinted towards at a previous chaoter, something to do with Yasuhiro... I just can't remember what! Sorry for the shameless plug at the top, but it really would be a great thing for me if you could like the pages and at least share the JustGiving page.**


	16. 16 - ready for swimming?

**Yo, yo yo! Here's the deal! I've made sure to explain why this has happened, but hey, new characters! We all love new characters! Right...? Anyway, we've got some new interactions and a little bit of fun to have; I'm sure things are going to be nice from here! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Shirou, there's a little trouble brewing! have a card match!_

 _Shirou: and you've got a DJ and a toy maker to take care of!_

 _Kazuki: This seems like this will be fun!_

 _Shirou: I hope this is going to be a bit nicer than I feel it will be...!_

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

The registers were forced to change quickly. Where once they had a full class for the new year, they now had a death and disappearance to deal with. Considering all of the crazy news that had come with the previous exam, they had to make sure that nothing seemed out of place, lest they face a straight shut down, or worse, investigation. Hence why, as Kazuki and Chiaki were walking to their classroom, the two bumped into a pair of girls, hesitantly walking towards them with more than a little confusion upon their faces.

"Um… could you direct us towards where the seventy eighth class' room is? We had instructions, but we kind of lost them on the way here…" the first of the girls requested, a shy tone just about ready to break similar to how Mikan held herself. Trembling legs were covered in black tights, the formal clothes of the school uniform framing a lithe body. Her face held an elegance that few could achieve, framed by black hair with bright green eyes, though the greatest attraction had to be the large headphones that wrapped around her neck.

Her partner however was very much different. With a shorter and only slightly rounder figure, she had yet to lose any of the childish fat that many were quick to leave behind. Clad in a red jumper with a black skirt, white knee high socks to match, the short brown haired girl was messing about with what appeared to be a toy horse, the wheels rolling at the work of her fingers.

"Oh? We have the time, so we can just lead you, if that's alright Miss Nanami?" Kazuki suggested, the girl giving a quiet nod as she remained glued to her special handmade console. Needless to say, it would take the game developer's hand to make sure she didn't bump into any of the walls as she moved, the other two girls following behind with only a fairly large distance between them, much to Kazuki's chagrin. "So then, why do you want to get to class seventy eight? I'm pretty sure they were all full, right?"

"Well actually, they apparently had two extra spaces, so we managed to get plugged in there." The first black haired girl explained with a small awkward chuckle. "But because we were late additions, we didn't really get the proper things we needed to join until recently, so we couldn't join them from the start."

"Oh, I suppose that makes sense then." The game developer replied, a hand to his chin. He never really interacted with the staff of Hope's Peak any more than lessons would have him do, but they didn't exactly give the brightest impression, save for Chisa. There was a strange dullness that held the staff, as if they all hated their jobs; it wasn't the best natural mood considering that lessons were already optional, so the idea that the class would either gel or fall apart was the greatest risk. "But I guess we haven't introduced ourselves have we? I'm Kazuki Hiraku, Super High School Level and Ultimate Game Developer. Chiaki Nanami here is the Super High School Level and Ultimate gamer. What about you two?"

"Oh, they have the two names don't they? I guess you're quite lucky if both of you have the same designations both ways." The black haired girl commented with folded arms, a small pout poking at her features. "I mean, sure, they have pretty cool and more accurate Ultimate titles, but I've heard some that just sound kind of silly. My name's Hayami, Hayami Honda. I mean., my Super title's accurate, the Super High School Level DJ, but the other one's the Ultimate music mixer. There's way more than just mixing music when it comes to being a DJ!"

"Ah, and I'm Jun Yamamoto, the Ultimate and Super High School Level Toymaker. It's nice to meet you; please take care of me." The brow haired girl continued, a gentle tone remaining in her words where the initial hesitation of Hayami had given way to passionate indignation. "Is… is Hope's Peak a nice place?"

"Naturally. Well, maybe the teachers could do with a little work, but the examiners and all of the people are great fun, aren't they miss Nanami?" Kazuki replied exuberantly, the gamer girl giving a swift nod. "But to be honest, you probably won't even meet quite a few of the staff. There are times where a Super High School Level student can do a job similarly or more likely better than the staff members, meaning they fill in as part of their 'training'."

"That sounds like fun. I mean, I don't mean to brag or anything, but pit me against anything this school can cook up when it comes to a party of sorts; I bet I can beat their tracks or playlists hands down!" Hayami challenged, a great smirk overtaking her face at the thought. "I can just imagine their people crying their way home as they realise they just got beat by a girl like, half their age!"

"…Miss Honda, you do realise that they probably would have other Super High School Level musicians to do the acts, right? Can you really say that you would be able to outdo say, the Ultimate pop sensation, or the Ultimate Musician?" the Super High School Level Game developer challenged, though it did little to pull from the girl's smirk.

"Well let me at their tunes! They won't be laughing when I remix them and get people dancing even harder!" Hayami haughtily declared, a hand held to her cheek as a laugh escaped her. By her side however, Jun was far less enthusiastic, at least if the dejected way she looked to the wooden horse in her hands meant anything.

"But what am I meant to do? My talent isn't exactly something I can show off in a couple of seconds and who's going to like toys here…?" the short haired girl stated, her head sinking even further into herself until a small cough drew her out of the misery, the pause button sound playing as Chiaki slipped the device into her bag.

"There aren't many that have quick talents, or even talents that some can prove. After all, there is a Super High School Level lucky student in each year and you replaced who was meant to be the Super High School Level fortune teller. As for whether people like toys, I thought that no one would like games, but they managed to make me a lot of friends. You should have faith in your talent." The small smile upon the gamer's face as well as her whispery tones was good to bring the girl's similar smile back, a second look to her toy having a sudden courage take her body.

"…Okay then. I can't ignore that when it's my senior telling me that." Jun stated, a subtle confidence coming to her very motions as Hayami grinned maniacally by her side, letting loose a small chuckle as she saw Kazuki's questioning look.

"What can I say? I've been her friend for a long time. It's always nice to see her smile. Her talent by trade is usually seen as innocent, so much so that people think they can take advantage of her shyness and unwillingness to stick for herself. Anytime she shows confidence is a time to celebrate!" the Super High School Level DJ announced, to her friend's immediate embarrassment, a flush of red appearing upon her as she dragged a chuckling Hayami into the classroom Kazuki indicated without so much as a goodbye.

"I like this new year. What about you Miss Nanami?"

"…They seem nice. I can tell they've got a good multiplayer vibe."

"Well we should probably turn this into a speed run; I think we may already be late."

* * *

He had to admit, there was little reason for him and Nekomaru to speak, let alone get along. Sure, as a Super High School Level Coach, he was a clear force when it came to keeping the group together and motivated, but considering the lack of sports that Kazuki participated in, an equal mix of work and lack of self-motivation, there was little time save for lessons for the two to interact.

"So why are we going to the gym again, Mr. Nidai?" Kazuki sighed as he fell upon the man's shoulder, a meaty hand having placed him there with great enthusiasm. Needless to say, he had gotten a few strange looks from passing students, but those who knew of the Ultimate team manager were quick to swap their confusion for pitiful looks and the green haired boy was more than certain there was one who had chosen to actually pray for his safety.

What on earth was he getting into!?

"Well, I was thinking that you don't enjoy sports right? And with your talent, you don't really have the motivation to do anything more than what is asked of you. I've been gathering a few of people like you together and we're going to the pool!" the coach energetically exclaimed, a sudden dread falling upon Kazuki's back. "I was lucky enough that the ultimate spy was passing by, so I had him get your swimming costumes for you!"

"… Mr. Nidai, please don't invite people to invade others' rooms just to have them go swimming. Why didn't you just tell me so I could go and grab my shorts?" Kazuki complained, the pitiful fist against his back prompting the far larger man's laughter.

"Well, do you really think you would've joined us if I just straight up asked you? From the reactions of the others, I hope you can believe me when I say it didn't seem likely!" Nidai belted out, his enthusiasm almost doubling as he dashed forward, near chucking the totally not screaming boy into the changing room where his crimson shorts sat waiting.

"You were the last one we needed, so we're all waiting on you! Just come to the pool when you're done!" Nekomaru bellowed through the door, the fact that they had gaps beneath and above probably not coming to the somewhat lacking man before the thunderous sound of his feet moving away let Kazuki give a small sigh of relief as he quickly started stripping of his clothes; for all he knew, the man was going to come back soon and if he wasn't getting ready, he would do it himself.

"I mean, it's not like I'm avoiding doing any sort of exercise. I do a small run… I guess…" Maybe it was time to stop thinking about that, lest he throw himself into some sort of depression as he walked out of the cream stall. He certainly wasn't the most buff figure, but he had already decided to stop worrying about his slightly (read; completely) weak build, wandering towards the positively gigantic pool where he was greeted with a sight that had him stumbling over his step.

"…Hey." Coming to think of it, there were very few times indeed where Kazuki had a better chance to contemplate how pale Chiaki's skin was. With a lovely little frilled bikini bra and bottom, it certainly left little to the imagination and considering that Kazuki had no doubt Chiaki would refuse to leave the house if it didn't mean leaving her friends, there was little doubt that tanning was high on Chiaki's list. "I thought it would be fun, so I joined along."

"Miss Nanami? Didn't you feel a little embarrassed when Mr. Nidai carried you over his shoulder?" Kazuki questioned, only to receive a curious head tilt from the pink haired girl.

"He never carried me over his shoulder. Nekomaru just led me here." The girl corrected, said giant of a man broadly laughing once more, the entirety of his body on display save for the small shorts that protected his modesty.

"Why, she was one of the first ones I asked! Might as well get the easiest ones out of the way!" he explained with a hearty chuckle, completely unaware of how Kazuki's face sunk.

"Wait… Mr. Nidai, did you think that I would be the hardest then?"

"So why am I here then?" Hiyoko complained, a yellow one-piece covering the entirety of her body, even if it did little to disguise the intense hatred she had for the Super high School Level Coach. "You said this is for people who don't do exercise, but I do it! I'm dancing all of the time! And look at me, if you think this is fat, then I dare you to tell me that!"

"Swimming will help your metabolism, meaning you're less likely to get fat even if you eat more!" Nekomaru immediately countered, the Super High School Level dancer giving a great sigh as she collapsed to the ground, careful to avoid the rather… rotund form of Ryota.

"…I don't really think I should be here. I still have a few more frames I should be do-!" but before the objection cold be properly sounded, a great roar had the animator yelling as he flew into the water, a proud grin upon Nekomaru's unrepentant face as he saw the boy flounder about in the water.

"Um, Mr. Nidai… are you allowed to throw people into the water on the shallow end? Or at all?" Kazuki questioned hesitantly, certain to ensure a large distance away from the overexcited boy as he dived in after him without so much as a second's hesitation. "Well, looks like I'm not getting an answer from him… Miss Nanami, want to join me?"

With a near screaming Hiyoko now petulantly pouting as she kicked herself within the water, Nekomaru looked to the small group surrounding him, a loud sigh escaping him as he laid back within the waters.

"Now, what I probably think the issue is that you lot don't think it's going to be fun, or see a need to do it when there isn't everyone here!" the man bellowed regardless of the proximity of those he was speaking to. "But I'm going to show you how to have fun here! And we're going to do that by… doing nothing…"

"…Dear god I hope you're joking. You mean you dragged me out here, got me all wet and cold and now you're going to tell me we're not going to do anything!?" Hiyoko screeched, her feet splashing about as madly as her arms. "That's it, I'm out. This is as much of a sham as I thought it would be. Have fun with doing nothing."

But then her eyes took on an entirely new fire when the sudden collision of a ball with her back was felt. Turning slowly, a growl escaped the small girl at the sight of the randomly coloured ball rising and falling upon the ripples, a waving Nekomaru chuckling as he set up a net through the centre of the pool.

"You know, you were meant to spike it back one of us!" the coach called out, a sudden smirk forming upon Hiyoko's face as she grasped the ball with all of her might a burning flame entering her eyes that had become the most dreaded sign in Mahiru's short life.

"Oh, is that how we're going to play then?" she hissed, the smile and sugary tone ready to poison a person, before gleefully setting their body alight and dancing gracefully upon the ashes. "Well then, take this!"

"Got it." Even with all of the might available in that small girl's body, it took little effort for Chiaki to catch the ball, hitting it upward for Kazuki to smash forward, only for it to bounce off of Ryota's head perfectly for Nekomaru to roar as he smashed it in return, the game developer frozen until Chiaki's dainty hand struck out in front of his vision, the sound of rubber violently colliding with flesh coming as the near shocked boy struck the ball back.

"Wait, that was way too fast Miss Nanami! Have you played this before!?" Questioned the Green haired boy as he pushed the ball up, the frantic swimming of Hiyoko ready to join at the chance of smacking a ball into Nekomaru's face coming up behind as the girl effortlessly hit the ball I return, much more than could be said for the struggling Ryota.

"I haven't, but I know the rules. I can accustom to any sort of game pretty easily as long as it doesn't require too much of me. This is just reflex and hitting a ball hard. As long as I can position myself right, then everything's simple." The girl answered gently, a small smile playing upon her lips at the same time as Kazuki.

"Well, I suppose that means this is more of a challenge now that the Super High School Level gamer is seeing this as the game it is! That's great, all sports are a game! It just means we have to get more serious, right Ryota!?" Nekomaru cheered, an electric aura gathering around the giant of the student that almost seemed to suck every last morsel of energy from Ryota's body, the boy near floating dead upon the top of the pool.

"Come on Pig feet! If you don't make it a challenge, where's the fun in hitting you?" Hiyoko taunted, Kazuki only having a second to realise how much of a mistake it was passing to the blonde dancer where a feminine cry had it hurtling over the small net, a few brief seconds given for the animator to contemplate everything he had done in this life to earn this.

His death was short and sweet, at the hands of a little girl and her ball.

"… I mean, I never expected you to have that sort of arm Miss Saionji…" Kazuki struggled to compliment, a haughty laugh escaping the short girl.

"Hey, I take back what I said about this earlier! This is so much better! I'll come any time if it means being able to smack Pig feet in the face!"

* * *

 **And let's stop that right there. So I've been trying to keep the scene changes to a minimum in order to keep the story easily follow-able, but there's a bit more that I wanted to add now that this has happened, maybe I can do what I finally wanted to do with the person that I introduced before... Well, I guess you can look forward to that!**


	17. 17 - ready for sports?

**Greetings! I know this is one of my... less successful stories, but it somehow managed to get a chapter in rather than true jinchuuriki and fate is in the cards. So, let's get right into the fun and games! Anyway, let's go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Shirou, what happened!? Beaten by a gamer... that makes sense and doesn't!_

 _Shirou: Watch out, there's a sports day, but something big is lurking in the shadows!_

 _Kazuki: Can you hear that... something neighing?_

 _Shirou: I'm sure it's just something in the back of your mind._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

There was a reason why Kazuki never really involved himself with sports. While he certainly wasn't the worst of the group, he had never really seen their appeal. Of course, there the joy of succeeding against difficult odds and every sport was inherently a game in heart made a slight bit more extreme, but just because he could correlate it to a game, it didn't mean he was any more enthralled with sports.

"Of course Miss Nanami is different though." The green haired boy wistfully sighed as he chucked another wellington boot over his head, turning to see the footwear sitting what looked to be miles away from his competition. As soon as the idea of treating it as a game came to the girl's mind, Chiaki's pink eyes absolutely burned as she grabbed the nearest welly for the welly toss, an unimaginable throw having it soaring down the measuring line with the gamer giving barely anything more than a light breath after. "But then again, that's what makes her so amazing, just like everyone else."

Nekomaru had excused himself, the coach citing the fact that he most likely would beat anyone who could've challenged him easily to give himself an excuse to cheer from the side-lines. It wasn't a very common thing from the man however, with Akane keeping him busy with a blazing battle that was casually crashing beside the main events. With Teruteru by the grill, it was a perfect day at the class seventy seven unofficial sports day.

"Well fuck, Chiaki's totally wrecked that." Fuyuhiko scoffed, whipping off his sun glasses as he looked towards the ground. "I would've thought Sonia would've gotten that down. Still don't know how you managed to get it that fucking far when you're a freaking princess."

If the girl felt any sort of offence from the Super High School Level yakuza, she certainly didn't show it as she clapped her hands together with a smile, her eyes closing.

"In Novoselic, our people receive a military training course from a young age; a wellington toss like this is simple, but the idea is certainly not one I had heard of before!" the blonde declared, delighted, with Fuyuhiko laughing at the thought.

"Just imagine, a princess introducing a sport of tossing shoes."

"So what are we going to do now then? Do you think I can get some good shots of people doing the athletics?" Mahiru suggested, her camera primed. Of course, the red head was happily participating, but the sheer number of possibilities for her to capture in her pictures was far too great for the Super High School Level photographer to ignore.

"Ibuki's up this time! Ibuki's gonna dazzle you all with her amazing skills!" the punk light music club member enthusiastically called, waving her hand furiously as she took to the surrounding track, painted in the morning by Hope's Peak at their request. "Make sure to get Ibuki's best side!"

"Um… Miss Pekoyama, you also haven't been up yet, have you?" Kazuki remembered, the grey haired girl giving a nod as she silently stepped up to the second lane, a small chuckle escaping the blond gangster.

"Well then Peko, you better show the rest of these guys why you're the best." He jokingly ordered, the girl giving a stern nod as she pushed her glasses back; an order from the young master could not be ignored –she would win this without hesitation.

"I guess I can do this one. Lady Sonia, make sure you're watching!" Kazuichi proudly requested, a thumbs up thrown to the princess that was near completely ignored, the pink haired boy letting himself fall slightly as he turned forward.

"And allow me to fill the last space in this wretched race!" Tanaka exclaimed, jumping intot eh finale lane with a dramatic flair, his maniacal laughter bringing unforetold pain to the losers of the coming competition. "You will all fall before the great might of the dark lord!"

"So we're all set! On your marks, get set…" a pistol was held tight in Fuyuhiko's hands, a special loan from his father as the boy raised it into the air. It had been more than a little awkward for the boy to obtain, at least if the blush that had overtook his face when Ibuki had first asked about it meant anything. "Go!"

Ibuki and Peko were off like bullets, Tanaka following fairly close behind to leave purely a shocked Kazuichi struggling to catch up, the four hundred meters before him suddenly seeming a slight bit (read – incredibly) longer.

"Woo! Ibuki's going to rock this thing!" the horned girl exuberantly called as she dashed, her silent competitor beside her keeping up at perfect pace, every footstep matched. As long as she could do this, then winning would be assured, unless something were to happen.

A smirk appeared upon the dark lord's face hidden by the scarf upon his neck that Tanaka had refused to remove, his sleeves trembling as he ran as if possessed by the spirits of creatures untold. With a glint in his eye, the boy tossed his arms, Kazuki struggling to catch the slight sight of brown bullets coming out of them towards the two before them.

"Now my dark devas, secure our victory! We shall win, on the Sprits I swear!" Tanaka intoned, little squeaks sounding as they flew towards their targets with missile like accuracy. Peko didn't let it stop her movements as continued her dash, her hand moving back and forth with all of the strength of a full blown sword, the hamsters cut from the sky (non-lethally of course) in a matter of seconds. Ibuki, unable to stop their assault, stumbled in her slight tussle with the furred creatures until a devious spark appeared in her eyes, a new strength taking her body as she took a deep breath.

"Hey there little guys, but IBUKI DOESN'T WANT YOU!" the musical tones that escaped her lips were almost lovely to listen to, if it hadn't been for the sudden screech that escaped Ibuki, the creatures falling just as fast as the people standing at the side, even Tanaka stumbling at the sudden volume. Soon came the final seconds, the part that would tell the difference between the winner and losers; in the small distraction, Tanaka had been able to use his followers' noble sacrifice to catch up to his opponents. Mahiru had her camera primed, stood to the side, at least until the whirring sound growing louder approached her, stepping back as the others runner jumped away from the strange Segway that barrelled its way across the finish line.

"When everyone else is using their talents to try and win, I thought I would let myself join in!" the Super High School Level mechanic explained, a smug grin on his sharp toothed face as he displayed his silver vehicle of victory. "A special automated GPS based system to track my movements and come at my request and a strong one hundred CC motor with all terrain wheels to help me move no matter where I am!"

"But Mr. Souda, that's blatant cheating. We're only meant to use things that are actually, you know… allowed in the sport's rules." Kazuki objected, Chiaki giving a disapproving nod at his side as the boy flinched.

"Well… maybe you should've been clearer with the rules!" the boy spat back, a small sweatdrop appearing upon the green haired boy's face.

"What part of running features a Segway!?"

* * *

"Woah, you guys really set this place up!" Kazuki turned at the amazed outcry with a smile, Hajime sending a thumbs up his way as he led the large group behind him towards the other class. "Yo, Kazuki! Nice set up you have here!"

"Ah, Miss Honda! I'm guessing that you and Miss Yamamoto are happy in class seventy eight then?" the boy greeted, the black haired Super High School Level DJ sitting herself down with little hesitation.

"Oh yeah, it's great. They're all really weird at times, but so are Jun and I!" the girl giggled as she laid back upon the grass, watching as the various other people began to mingle, light threats and joking challenges having the running track filled once more, this time armed with the might of a swimmer and idol paired with a yakuza member and chef. "They've been way more accepting than I think either of us could've ever expected."

"Where is Miss Yamamoto anyway?" the boy enquired, craning his head. There was certainly no sight of the brown haired toy maker even in the crowd of faces built of two classes, though the fact that she was short probably didn't help all that much. "I would've thought that if you're with the rest of your class, you were having a lesson or something."

"Wait, so you think we can't hang out together unless we're in a lesson?" the girl gasped, Kazuki quick to stumble on his own words to apologise until the light giggling entering his ears, the boy merely letting his head sink slightly. "But it is true, I don't actually know where Jun is."

"Sorry to keep you all waiting!"

When the sound of wheels turning caught their attention, even Chiaki had to turn her eyes away from Sayaka's surprise victory to where the giant wooden horse approached, Jun's grunting figure on top, an absolute ant upon the back of the horse. Giant wheels of polished black, yet still clearly born from wood let the beats move, the legs attached to what appeared to be a separate piece to allow it to turn.

"What the hell is that Jun?" Hayami questioned, her eyes stuck upon the great head that was lifted to the air, hurriedly running over to catch the short brown haired girl as she jumped from her noble steed. "You were telling me you went to go and do homework when we were invited here. I thought you were just getting eager because we're still pretty new!"

"I'm sorry, but when I heard the class had been invited to come out and join class seventy seven, I thought it would be the best time to introduce my creation!" the girl breathlessly explained, a red glow to her face as she turned to hug the leg of the gigantic horse. "It took a long time carving it, and I needed to get a small bit of help when it came to the mechanics inside of it, I managed to make a giant version of the toy prototype I showed you!"

Kazuki's mind flashed back to the little toy still being messed with in the girl's hands as she hesitantly asked for his help alongside Hayami, the memory a splitting image of the great wooden beast before them if it hadn't have been grown to the size it had now.

"That was a prototype?" Chiaki gently questioned, the girl lifting herself from the grass to face Jun, her cat eared hood remaining upon her. "It looked too complete to me to be a prototype. I would've bought that."

"Ah, you're going to make me blush!" Jun cried, cradling her face as the others began to move in to admire the wooden creation. "It was just the first thing I could think up when it came to our special project. I was hoping of using it to show off alongside my more traditional toys when it came to our first exams."

"Well if you enter that beast into them, I can't see how the judges could ever let you fail". Hayami commented, a low whistle escaping the black haired girl's mouth. "Oh, did you two have to do a special 'out of comfort' assessment too?"

"An 'out of comfort' assessment?" both parroted at the same time, a small tilt of the head following as Hayami struggled to hold back the laughter.

"Well yeah, it's exactly what it says on the tin – an assessment where the primary objective is to see how the person utilises their talent in a way that isn't exactly as intended." The DJ explained, pointing to the behemoth before them. "I thought that the higher ups had given Jun an impossible one when they said to combine her toys with the theme of 'vehicle'; my first thoughts were that she was just going to make a life size toy car that you could sit in or something, not this!"

"It was originally just going to sit there and look pretty, have the steps and ladder I put in so a young child could be easily strapped into the seat I put on top, but I realised they never said I couldn't ask for another student's help as long as I did the majority, so I got the Super High School Level engineer to make me the inner workings and ensure the thing could move properly and safely, with a brake that the child can't reach for adults to stop it from moving." Jun began, her quiet whisper gradually growing in intensity as she spoke of her passion. That had Kazuki smiling; she was just like her best friend.

"Oh, so what does that mean you have?" Kazuki enquired, a smirk appearing upon Hayami's face as she looked to where a modest music system sat, a scoff swallowed as she ran into the distance, her room quickly entered before the sounds of great banging, a few minutes' waiting having a full blown DJ's turntable and mixer sitting in its place.

"Well my assignment was to mix my DJ capabilities with the theme of 'education'." The girl declared, her fingers moving at the word 'education' with a roll of the eyes. "And so your mind naturally goes to the stupid little kiddies songs and nursery rhymes, you know, the stuff that teaches you the sound an animal makes and how to count up to the great number of ten, right? Well, I decided to aim higher. I decided to write a book!"

"You… wrote a book?" Chiaki questioned, her eye brow rising gently as the girl basked in the strange look from her seniors, the sound of another bullet fired into the air starting another race, the attention lapped onto the horse now returned to challenging one another once more. "That doesn't seem like it would work."

"And usually it wouldn't but I gave it my special DJ touch!" the girl continued, a small stack of discs giving way to the one she wanted, her fingers wrapping tight around it as she slotted it into her system. "You see, I have a whole bunch of songs that I made which people really like, right? It's kind of the reason I got my place in this school, even if I wasn't their first choice. Well, when I found out that the majority of my audience is in the middle school to high school area, I used it to my advantage. I took several of those well performing songs and twisted their lyrics from their usual style into an educational format placed into their original story. I place the lyrics of the song in the book and explain each part. After all, the whole point of revising is to make things memorable and my songs are catchy; it's a best match!"

"Wait, you can actually do something like that?" When Hayami had shown Kazuki some of her tracks, it had been easy to lose himself in the beats and understand jus how she had managed to get the incredible amount of fans she had boasted about, but fitting any sort of educational value into them from the lyrics? That had to be hard when you were dealing with such things as romance and humans acting as if they were animals.

"Of course you can, otherwise I wouldn't have done this and I wouldn't have this to show for it!" the girl cheered, her fingers doing things Kazuki had no hope of explaining with the brightest grin the girl could muster. "Come on then! Let's hit the floor with the T-99, let's rock the drums with a t-909! It's geometry time!"

Needless to say, the plot wasn't exactly the most thrilling, nor was it the most 'existent', but who listened to great beats for the bloody story? Chiaki and Kazuki couldn't help the chuckles and giggles that escaped at the idea of a boy using a scalpel and a protractor for his angle bisector to perfectly cut a slice of cake in half, Hajime joining in on their laughter as soon as it came to the act of perfectly forming their house with vectors. Things did admittedly get a little forlorn when the very same angle bisector was used to slice a photo of their entwined hands apart, but that didn't last for long as the love was restored once and for all. It was a great song on a beautiful day when everyone was laughing.

Of course there would be someone screaming.

The boy was quick to scramble to his feet, Chiaki following quickly after while Hayami struggled to follow behind, flicking desperately to switch off the tunes still playing. They didn't need to go far though until they saw what had been the source of the call, Chiaki placing her hands to her mouth as Hayami fell flat to the ground, blissfully unconscious. Unfortunately, such a blessing wouldn't be given to Kazuki as he was forced to take in the pained face, the desperate contortions of a child in pain as his hands weakly wrapped around the giant sharpened pole that ran straight through his body. It missed the heart, leaving the victim to struggle and die an incredibly painful death as they watched the blood leave their body, hands stained in the same crimson struggling to remove the source of their pain. Perhaps it was a blessing that it remained in, for it gave him extra time to live, or a curse, for it also meant more time spent struggling in pain before they died.

Regardless, Kiyotaka Ishimaru was dad, speared through the chest with a throwing javelin.

* * *

 **Bye, bye, mister strict rules guy, we only saw you once but you seemed to get by. There' someone lurking in the shaodws too and soon people won't be able to take it anymore! what will Hope's Peak become? who is behind all of the trouble? Maybe you can find out next time... See you next super hero time!**


	18. 18 - ready for investigations?

**Yes, we're back! This daily life has become deadly once more and I think things are starting to become just a little bit unrecoverable! To be honest, this story isn't doing too good, so I think I may start wrapping things up soon. Anyway, I don't want to bore you, here we go!**

 _Super hero time!_

 _Kazuki: Shirou, be careful in your world of heroes! You can never know just who's just going to appear!_

 _Shirou: You should be taking more care of yourself Kazuki. With a murderer sneaking about, who knows what's going to happen..._

 _Kazuki: Do you think things are going to get any better after this? I feel like things are sinking downward and not going back up._

 _Shirou: ... I'm sure it will, trust me._

 _K + S: Never lose hope! A wildcard awakens!_

* * *

The joviality of the day ended immediately. Save for some of the weaker characters, there were far too many who could've possibly speared Kiyotaka to death and even with the investigation the students had begun as Jun ran pale to find the teacher.

"Our initial results are a little light I'm afraid." Kyoko stated as she gently ran a finger down the ground before her flicking up and frowning at the clean digit. "I had been hoping that the ones responsible for this would've done it where the earth was softer than the rest, but the ground is too solid; we can't identify them by footprint. Our best bet would be to preserve the javelin and get some finger print dusting done, but if we could find any further evidence nearby, it would be safer. After all if someone was careful with their gloves, we might not even have a single fingerprint to work off of."

"I will take over the guard, if there is another to ensure my alibi." A silver haired girl declared. Sakura Oogami, the Super High School Level fighter or the Ultimate martial artist, had been renowned through the various tournaments the girl had blasted her way through, battling and succeeding to defeat various styles and arts regardless of her fair skin and thin build. That build had given way to a great bulk however as she came to Hope's Peak, the reason for such being to truly earnt the title of strongest human alive in her own words. "If it does appear to have been tampered with, then I wish for someone to be there who may prove my innocence."

"Then I shall stand by you! There will be none who will pass our strength!" Nekomaru immediately volunteered, his stance strong as he took guard beside the girl. Kazuki had no qualms about declaring the pairing perhaps one of the most frightening thigs he would ever come to see in his short life, but now wasn't the time to speak of such things; this was a serious situation.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Ultimate moral compass and the Super High School Level Public Morals committee member, was an incredibly enthusiastic person in his role of ensuring that proper rules were followed. In a school however where typical education values were thrown away and mocked by the special of the school, that sort of attitude was more than likely to bring about more than just a small hatred with the people, a great deal more than a normal school. That still did little to limit the people who might've done such a cruel thing – but perhaps there was something that they could work with…

"The perpetrator didn't struggle with their task; the hole that the javelin has is smooth and clean edged rather than rough and messy like it would be if someone had trouble." Mukuro muttered, looking to the body with stern gaze in grey eyes. Her stoic face was trying its hardest to hide it, but even Kazuki couldn't help but notice the incredibly small hints of utter surprise; it was good to see that even the soldier was being freaked out by this – the game developer just couldn't help his first suspect being the one who would be the most desensitised to murder. "They would also need to have either special talent that would allow them to escape, or simply be fast enough. While the javelin being pushed all the way into the earth has prevented a good amount of the blood from escaping, the residual warmth of the body indicates that it was only a recent thing… and it happened right under our noses…"

Kazuki couldn't help the small amount of fear that shook its freezing way down his spine, just like many of the others. It had been hanging heavily in the air, but now that the soldier had voiced it aloud, the true implications of such a thing was weighing upon the shoulders of many.

"Well we could have a few go in each direction." Kazuki suggested, only for a regal tone to butt straight into the very words themselves. "As long as we have enough people in each group, we should be able to defend ourselves if we do end up meeting anyone we would struggle to deal with."

"That seems like a great idea!" Sonia quickly agreed, taking Kazuichi and Tanaka by the arm, the former of the two starting to splutter at the sudden contact. "We shall act as a three and take the west way."

"Then Mr. Naegi, Miss Maizono and Miss Asahina will be able to make a group. Me, Miss Nanami and someone will be able to make another." Kazuki declared, the three younger students moving immediately as Ryota stepped forward, glancing side to side.

"Well, I guess I can come with you… I don't know how much help I would be though…" the animator volunteered, his trembling not at all stopping as the group split, leaving only the guards and those that refused to involve themselves, namely one Ultimate affluent progeny and Super High School Level dancer.

The group took careful steps. For certain, they had Chiaki's copied special moves, the one time Kazuki had been stupid enough to compare it to the ability to a famous character resulting in a first-hand demonstration, but Ryota had barely been able to hold himself together at the idea of facing a murder and Kazuki had no chance of ever fighting in anything over than that which involved a controller. They had been patrolling the school grounds, various guards alerted as soon as they passed by them. Scanning the surrounding area from the tree, where both Chiaki and Ryota sat with a light sheen from adventuring around the entirety of the school, Kazuki closed the phone with a small click.

"Well, apparently the police haven't been able to find anything either. We've just been instructed to patrol in the case a resting place for the murderer can be found with evidence." The green haired boy sighed, running the strands through his hair in tired agony. There had been a murder at their sports day and not a single soul had been able to detect it? That was more than a little suspicious, but they had been the closest to where the incident had been and they hadn't been able to hear a thing.

"Um, I think I've found something!" the boy turned from his silent musings to where the Animator pointed, a small note splattered with an unmistakable crimson, Chiaki quick to pick it up and read off the sheet.

"Did you like my gift? That bot seemed like no fun, so I decided to get rid of him! Handling the super spear thing was super hard, but I just needed a little help from one of my friends to get the job done! Hope you're ready for next time." You could tell the minute trembles wrecked the gamer's body as she struggled to keep her hands still; crushing the note would only lose them a small chance to even find the elusive murder. Careful to handle it, she snuck away the note into her pockets, a small touch of fingers ensuring that any fingerprints present on the letter were properly preserved.

"So they're just treating this like a game… killing someone just because they didn't like the way they acted?" Ryota hesitantly spoke, Chiaki merely settling for a silent nod; she didn't trust herself not to get into bad things if she opened her mouth.

"But my question is, what's the link between these killings?" Kazuki questioned, hands to his forehead. "I don't think we need to ask whether it's the same person that resulted in these killings, but there doesn't seem to be anything linking the murders apart from the fact that they're all from Hope's Peak or going to it." Part of him was willing to admit that perhaps there wasn't any further meaning to that, that there was a person who simply had developed some sort of dislike towards Hope's Peak and was taking it out on the innocent students, but the conspiracy theorist in him was working like mad.

Take a look at the various victims and try to find a link. Yasuhiro Hagakure, Junko Enoshima, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. It could be that they thought the talents were stupid, reasonable considering that the other two were super models and 'moral compasses'. It could be that they took the ones that they didn't believe to be talents; people can be pretty, people can make up prophecies and predictions on the spot and people can follow the rules and enforce them. They had all been from the new year… but those theories failed to take advantage of the fact that there had also been the cruel death of Ruruka Andou.

She was a part of the year above him and her talent was one that fully deserved to be amongst Hope's Peak's repertoire. With that sort of thinking, the only that might be able to fit was the idea that they were killing off the talents they personally felt was stupid, and even that was a pretty weak try. But that might've just been a wildcard, purposely meant to just try and throw them off track… the thought of that was just absolutely infuriating!

"Kazuki, relax. We're not the ones who are meant to deal with this." The calming hand of Chiaki upon his shoulder did a good amount to fixing his frustration, but the niggling questions and missing conclusions still had yet to completely leave his mind.

"But still, unless we find something meaningful, how are we going to make sure that the rest of our classmates are kept safe?" Kazuki muttered with a light shake, the very thought bringing great fear to the boy's heart. "Just imagine if Mahiru died, or Tanaka. What if people like Hiyoko, Fuyuhiko or even Sonia disappeared? It would be the worst thing that could possibly happen!" when under incredible stress, loses his usage of formal titling. Chiaki was quick to note the small detail down in the regions of her mind, even as the hand started to move in a comforting gesture upon his back.

"And what if you died? What if I died, or Ryota, right here and right now?" that though immediately had the boy frozen in fear, even the frightened trembles pausing. "We have to keep calm and focus on making sure that our friends stay alive so someone else can find the murderer, not walk tour deaths so that there isn't anyone left to take care of the others. As the class president, I say we go back right now and report to them."

"… Well I suppose I can't ignore the orders of my class president, can I?" there was a dullness in his voice, one that didn't belong on the usually vibrant boy, but there was no objection as the trio trekked forward, the walk back to the fields, their guaranteed meeting place, having them go across the entirety of the school once more. It would only be Ryota who would notice the odd wooden shavings that blew past them, a surprisingly critical eye recording them before the look faded back to their normal frightened look. After all, until he was in a proper situation to speak about them, he still had a part to play.

A small pair of eyes followed after them, trailing their movements with a playful smile. They might not have figured out their plans like they had expected them to do, but that didn't matter in the long run. They had already picked their next targets and thing were only going to get even more interesting from here. It was just a case of finding a good time to do so, especially now that everyone was on high alert thanks to their little gift. But with just a small amount of creativity and some pretty good work with her skill, there was no doubt that it would all go off without a hitch.

* * *

There had been troubling news of potential uprises when it came to the reserve course. The vast difference in the way that the Super High School Level students and the reserve students were taught and treated had never been hidden, but with the way that they were being slowly picked off like some sort of demented game bird, perhaps a few of them had gotten a bit more brave in their complaints.

The thing that had most likely broken them however was when news of something far more twisted was revealed, the leaker of such information still anonymous, yet the facts had no chance of being disproven. Several names were listed alongside their photos, stood proud as they were named members of the school's student council. As they were, smiling and ready to take on the grand challenge of controlling and ensuring the success of a school of ultimates, it was impossible to think that they could be so gruesomely murdered, all at once during one of their meetings and by an unknown character.

It had only been natural for the people to complain and start rioting. After all, they were in a school at the hands of their superiors, the least the demanded was to be in a safe environment where they could be safe in knowing they were being treated the same. What if the murderer chose to turn their eye to the reserve course? Would they have their murders covered up? Would people even care if they did die?

It soon became a common thing to see a grand amount of rampaging students at the gates of the normal course building, the many Super High School Level students having to force their way through the copious numbers. It certainly wasn't helping their morale any, without their teacher that had brought them all together, Kazuki surprisingly off for an increasingly worrying amount of time and the majority of class seventy seven left in a slump.

"What do you think's up with Kazuki?" Chiaki asked as she let her thumbs rest upon her handheld, the game over screen flashing not for the first time that day. It was one of the worst things that could've happened to the gamer girl before, and yet now, it was barely a thing to notice as Hajime rocked upon his chair. "He shouldn't have been gone for long."

"Well perhaps he's just ended up being seriously ill, or had some things he couldn't help dealing with." The brown haired boy suggested as he continued his work, which ultimately ended up just being developing whatever thoughts his mind ended up getting hooked upon. "I mean, if he was ill, he probably would've called us or an ambulance by now, and if he had stuff to deal with, then that would explain why he hasn't spoken to us. Perhaps we can go and visit him while class was done."

A great part of the pink haired girl didn't want to wait until the end of a class she wasn't paying attention to, but her role was a serious one, at least in her mind. With everyone as depressed as they were, it was up to her to ensure that the atmosphere remained high even if she didn't have her vice president beside her.

The lesson dragged on long and hard, trying their very best to drain the very life out of Chiaki's body. Whereas it was seemingly impossible to stop the random thoughts and bursts of inspiration that's seemed to come to Hajime's mind, a full blown concept growing larger and more complex by the second, it seemed that every game Chiaki attempted was suddenly ending in failure. It hadn't been like this before, not even when she had only just begun her first games, so why couldn't she get it down?

Well, that was a stupid question. To be good at her games, she had to be able to focus and with a mind so desperately clouded as her own right then, there was little chance of it ever being cleared during the lesson. A small glance about had it revealed as the same for many overs. Mahiru let out a small click as she twisted and turned the camera, the perfect angle simply missing from her repertoire. Ibuki sat before an empty sheet of music, the notes refusing to come to her mind as the normally incredibly rambunctious Super High School Level light music club member sat in silence.

There was little that could be allowed for Fuyuhiko to properly demonstrate his skills as a yakuza, but normally these moments was spent with the boy actively mocking the others in their moments of messing up and sometimes not even that, but today was spent in silence, none commenting when he tilted the fedora over his face. Hiyoko ran through a series of steps that she had practiced countless times and yet she stumbled each and every time, though the frustration was surprisingly and uncharacteristically left unvoiced.

Even the most energetic of the bunch were left disheartened with recent events. Nekomaru led his younger charges, but they could easily tell the lack of heart in their coach, the same as Mikan's pretend patients as she dutifully tended to their wounds in silence. Gone were the various stumbles that had drawn laughter from many people, instead replaced with a calm forlorn work ethic that didn't belong on the nurse's face. There was no denying that a similar thing had even manged to turn the great lord Tanaka, his dark devas sitting in depression upon the table as the dark haired boy brooded, thoughts unknown passing through the dark inclined boy.

If one were to call it the darkest times in the history of Hope's Peak, you wouldn't truly be lying. If you were to call it one of the darkest times of humanity, you would of course be completely wrong, but that of course was simply because it wasn't done to such a great amount. Needless to say, that would soon change.

* * *

 **And I think we'll hold it right there for now! things are going to get serious and it's time to reveal just who's been behind all of these killings! Any ideas? Well, maybe I made it a bit too obvious, but I'm sure there's still just a little bit of mystery.**


End file.
